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I
have the privilege of being a participant at the
workshop on Reproductive
Health and the Media at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
organised by the Himmat
Society of Pakistan, in association with the Asia
Pacific Institute of
Broadcasting Development (AIBD), Kuala Lumpur.
The participants for the
programme are from 4 different countries - Pakistan,
Nigeria, Mexico and
India.
We were selected for the programme by the IIE,
or the Institute of
International Education, India for the course
which is funded by the Lucile
Packard Foundation, San Fransisco. It's a two-week
workshop (from April 21 to May 3). The first week
is devoted to understanding gender and how it
affects our perceptions as media persons, what
we can do to change gender imbalances in our societies
and understanding that gender is a global issue.
Kausar Khan, of the Aga Khan University of Lahore,
is our trainer. We also have guest speakers from
the International Planned Parenthood Federation,
KL, health workers, doctors and policy makers
in Malaysia. This apart, we've been taken to RTM
(Radio Television Malaysia) where we were shown
a film on reproductive health and interacted with
the team of producers and directors who work on
women's issues.
Yesterday (our fourth day of the workshop) we
visited The New Straits Times
office and had an interactive session with their
senior editorial staff. What's remarkable about
Malaysia is that despite being a Muslim country,
it is secular in character. In New Straits
Times, 20 percent of managerial-level staff
are women. I talked to the editor of Sunday
Mail, a lady called Ayesha, who had also attended
the Beijing Conference. She told me how women
in decision-making positions had brought about
a change in the newspaper's policies. They had
strongly opposed any demeaning depiction of women.
Words like "sex bomb" or "sex kitten"
are not used in NSTP, thanks to Ayesha's efforts.
I'll be meeting Ayesha again this evening.
More about the experience of Malaysian women journalists
will follow.
Soumi Das for NWMI
Malaysia
April 25, 2003
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