KARACHI, May 21: Sindh Minister for Women Development Dr Saeeda Malik on Friday called upon the journalist community to step up their efforts against gender discrimination and biased attitude against womenfolk.

She was speaking at the concluding ceremony of a three-day workshop on "Media and Democratic Government with Focus on Gender Justice and Democracy", organised jointly by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) and Asia Foundation.

The workshop was attended by journalists from several parts of the country. Senior journalists belonging to various newspapers and news agencies addressed the workshop.

"It is the media and people associated with this profession, who can be instrumental in banishing gender inequalities," she observed, and stressed that journalists in rural areas had more responsibility, as prejudiced-attitude against women in rural areas was more prevalent in these areas as compared to urban areas.

She regretted that women were still being discriminated even in this new age of information, calling for co-ordinated efforts to get women their due place in society. Dr Malik observed that a comprehensive network was established between the media, politicians and NGOs in developed countries, which ensured good governance and accountability. However, such a network, she said, was awaited in Pakistan and opined that if such a network came into existence, a large number of problems, particularly gender issues, could be addressed in a befitting manner.

She dispelled the impression that gender equality was total liberalisation of women, but said it were the rights guaranteed by Islam and envisaged in the constitution.

Regarding the government policy about gender issues, she said that the government had a firm commitment to remove all sorts of discrimination including gender bias, rural urban divide etc. "A sizeable representation of women in legislative bodies from top to bottom would prove effective in totally banishing bias against women," she maintained.

She revealed that women would have a 33 per cent representation in all government departments by 2015 under the government policy to increase the role of women in government affairs. Secretary General, PPF Owais Aslam Ali, Representative of Asia Foundation Sahar Ali and others also spoke. -PPI