Women’s progress deserves more space in media: Speaker

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Mar. 4: Speaker of the House of Representatives Devraj Ghimire has said that even though the involvement and participation of women in the Parliament and other government organisations are increasing, the media has not given them a place accordingly.

Speaking at an interaction programme on "Women's Issues in the Media," organised by the Press Council Nepal on Friday to mark the International Women's Day, Speaker Ghimire said that campaigning had not been done according to the participation and involvement of women.

Speaker Ghimire said that even in the parliamentary meetings after he became the Speaker, the women parliamentarians’ participation in 'zero and special hour’ was encouraging, but the media were not giving due space to promote them accordingly.

Speaker Ghimire complained, “The media make big news only when big leaders speak or discussions on big topic happen.” 

Speaker Ghimire mentioned that the Parliament needs some temporary women-friendly structures and he was planning to make it by talking to the Secretariat.

He expressed his opinion that the media should publish and broadcast news on the subject matter instead of remaining focused on leaders.

He said, "I am ready to take suggestions personally and institutionally to bring the bill related to mass media and amend the Press Council Act in time." 

The bill related to media, which has remained pending for a long time now, should be discussed and studied in detail and taken forward with positive revisions, he added.

He promised that his role will always be positive for the creation and implementation of the necessary laws for the press.

Chairman of Press Council Nepal, Balkrishna Basnet, said that the presentation and space in the media will give an overall preview of the issue of women. He said that political participation, leadership and presentation will work to increase the position in the media. He said that the Press Council Nepal, the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) and other policymakers must play their role in making the entire state and the media responsible for women's issues.

He expressed his belief that the Parliament will play an effective role in amending the necessary laws to make Press Council Nepal more autonomous and strong.

Similarly, the FNJ Bipul Pokharel said that Nepali media has played an important role in increasing the participation of women in the state system as well as in politics. He pointed out that it is necessary to formulate a strategy to quell women's concerns and encourage participation.

Sangeeta Khadka, the chairperson of the Minimum Wage Fixation Committee, complained that the committee could not work as expected due to limited authority.

Senior journalist Babita Basnet said the non-enactment of cyber law and non-use of information technology has become challenging to address women’s issues.

Two papers were presented in the programme. Advocate Durga Bhandari, a board member of the Press Council, presented a paper on Women's Opportunities and Challenges in Media and Kundan Aryal, Associate Professor at Tribhuvan University, Central Department of Journalism and Mass Communication presented a paper on Women's Issues in Media.