Project launched to promote gender-responsive media in Nepal
KATHMANDU/November 10: Although the media sector is flourishing in Nepal, media houses have been reluctant to embrace key dimensions of gender sensitivity, including professional safety of women journalists at workplaces. To overcome this and to promote gender-responsive media, on November 10, Media Action Nepal launched a year-long project titled ‘Promoting gender sensitivity in the media content and newsroom operations through capacity building of journalists in Nepal.’
Supported by the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI), the project aims to address obstacles in mainstreaming gender in the newsrooms of Nepal and seeks to encourage media to ensure women’s leadership role in media houses across the country.
Launching the project, Laxman Datt Pant, Chairperson of Media Action Nepal (MAN) stated that women continue to be excluded from key decision-making levels in media, thus resulting in a very poor coverage of the issues that require vibrant attention to mainstream the gender in newsrooms. This is reflected in the exercises of media activities, i.e., preparation of media content and participation of women in decision making, Pant added.
Women continue to be excluded from key decision-making levels in media, thus resulting in a very poor coverage of the issues that require vibrant attention to mainstream the gender in newsrooms.
In his inaugural remarks during the project launch, Rohan Kembhavi, Acting Program Manager of the Foreign Policy and Diplomacy Section at the Canadian Embassy congratulated MAN for coming up with the very relevant and timely intervention to sensitize Nepali media on various dimensions of gender. Highlighting that the project includes great set of substantive activities lined up to achieving the goal of promoting gender equality in media, Kembhavi remarked, “We certainly need to increase number of women in leadership positions, to that end media houses need to create safe and inclusive environment in order to promote free, fair and robust media.”
Adding that it is important to know how systematic gender biases hamper the functioning of women journalists and prevent them achieving their own potentials as well as making their full contribution to the sector, Kembhavi hoped that the project would contribute towards creating enabling environment for women to utilize their full potentials through various activities.
It is important to know how systematic gender biases hamper the functioning of women journalists and prevent them achieving their own potentials as well as making their full contribution to the sector.
“I congratulate Media Action Nepal for launching this important project and looking forward to seeing the impact of the project activities. For me, the media is the watchdog of democracy and good governance, only with the co-participation of women can we achieve this goal,” remarked Stéfanie Bergeron, First Secretary at the High Commission of Canada in India.
“The project will promote gender sensitivity in media content and newsroom operations through various project activities such as a content analysis of 20 provincial and federal media outlets mainly newspapers and online portals, preparation of a consolidated handbook to reflect the principles and practices of gender sensitive media indicators followed by two phase two-day long virtual training for 140 journalists covering 7 provinces and 77 districts of Nepal,” MAN Chairperson Pant informed during the virtual launch of the project attended by more than 30 journalists from seven provinces.
A total of 30 media fellows with 50% women will be awarded with media fellowship representing all 7 provinces and Kathmandu valley. They will attend separate mentoring sessions for investigative reporting and editorial content of the underreported gender dimensions. Fellows will prepare and disseminate at least two investigative stories on women’s success and challenges during the fellowship, which will create a different understanding of gender roles in the society. These fellows will ultimately become the gender champions in journalism after the fellowship.
Aiming to help increase gender sensitivity among national level media and to prioritize gender coverage in media reporting, the project includes a one-day national level panel discussion among editors, journalists and media experts.
Despite the fact that the situation of women has changed in the current era, the media still fails to disseminate information on women’s progress. The stories about women and their struggle for recognition are not reflected in the news. It has yet to educate the empowerment of women in the society.
