ISLAMABAD, Feb 18: Norwegian Ambassador Janis Bjorn Kanavin on Friday emphasized that raising women's status should be top priority of the civil society as well as the state-level initiatives.

He was speaking at the closing ceremony of a capacity- building workshop on "Gender self-awareness and gender based research methodologies, organized by the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW).

The workshop organized for the representatives of ministries, academic institutions and civil society organizations started on February 14. The ambassador hailed the NCSW for taking an initiative that reinforced the importance of research on gender issues. He assured the commission of his continued support.

Speaking on the occasion, UNDP Gender Unit Chief Faiza Affendi said such a diverse group of researchers had gathered around one table to learn gender concepts had made this workshop important. She lauded involvement of people from ministries and educational institutions in research and learning process.

NCSW Chairperson Justice (retired) Majida Rizvi expressed the hope that participants from a diverse background would work as a team in future to carry out various researches on women issues from a more informed gender perspective.