Women activists on Thursday said mass media kept an important role to help achieve different state initiatives for women development.
They also said violence against women would be curbed only through greater state initiatives.
The views were made at a seminar tilted 'Women movement of Bangladesh and mass media' organised by the Bangladesh Mahila Parishad at the National Press Club in the city.
The rights organisation's president Ayesha Khanam said women movement changed its demands from time to time while mass media helped their movement at all stages through all possible ways.
Ayesha Khanam said the media have their commercial perspectives, but they should guard against 'yellow journalism', adding that they should not play to the gallery.
The programme's chief guest, Ekushey Television adviser Atiqul Haque Chowdhury, said the media and women activists should look through a same lens.
He said, 'When a society becomes neutral to consider women as equal human beings only then violence against women would be curbed.'
While presenting a keynote paper, BMP publication and media secretary Quazi Sufia Akhter said women movement had different issues at different times, like rehabilitation of women affected during liberation war, right to divorce, ban on second marriage and dowry, reserve seats for women in all jobs, women education, curbing discrimination against women and domestic violence.
Different acts and policies like—the Muslim Marriage and Divorce (Registration) Act, 1974, the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1980, the Domestic Violence (Protection and Prevention) Act, 2010 and the National Women Development Policy, 2011 were achieved through women movement, they pointed out.
Representatives from different print and electronic media were present at the programme.
Source : New Age
