Women journalists working in various media organisations, both print and electronic media, have raised several issues related to safety and security of women and about denial of equal opportunities to women in majority of media organisations.
The Special Committee on Safety and Security of Girls and Women, constituted by the Telangana government to understand the issues and concerns, review effectiveness of existing legislations and come up with a report, interacted with women in media here on Wednesday as part of its interactions with various categories of women.
Significantly, members from media wanted the government to regulate the depiction of women in obscene manner and stereotyping the image of women as that would only perpetuate gender bias and contribute to growing incidents of crime against women.
To the surprise of the committee, the media members said barring one or two media organisations, there were no internal complaints committee or grievance re-dressal mechanism to look into sexual harassment at work place in the State. There was no transport facility either for women to drop them home after their late night working hours.
Another issue the members complained was discrimination by the managements in recommending accreditation to women journalists.
When a committee member pointed out that there was a thin line between creative freedom that allowed sensuous depiction and obscenity, it was suggested that a watchdog committee be constituted to monitor both print and electronic media. Another suggestion was government could grade women-friendly media organisations and suspend government advertisements to organisations that depicted women in an objectionable manner. From the government side, gender sensitisation of officers in police and judiciary particularly and also in other departments be taken up.
Poonam Malakondaiah, heading the committee, said the comprehensive report given by the State Commission for Women would also be submitted along with the committee report for the government for affirmative action.
