The Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, which has responsibility for women's affairs, will soon be launching a campaign to deal with violence against women, Minister Priya Manickchand announced recently.
She was addressing participants of a two-day workshop aimed at sensitising representatives from several organizations, including the media, about gender-based issues in the news.
This workshop, which concluded Thursday, was organized by the Ministry of Labour and Human Services in collaboration with the UNDP and UNICEF and was conducted by a training team from Women's Media Watch Jamaica.
The minister urged media operatives at the workshop to be considerate, particularly in reporting gender-sensitive issues. She also called on them to share the knowledge they receive from the workshop with their colleagues. A press release from the ministry stated that this training is a pre-requisite to the establishment of a local Media Watch Group which will become part of a Caribbean Network of Media Watch Groups. The main function of this group would be to closely monitor the media with a view to instituting measures which would influence reporting on women, and combat the negative portrayal of their image in all sections of the media.
The measures instituted will address the establishment of appropriate guidelines for reporting on gender issues and formulation of self-monitoring codes which encourage fair gender portrayal and the use of non-sexist language in media programmes.
The release added that it is hoped that this initiative will result in balanced and fair treatment of women in all sections of the media and reporting which reflects a positive image of women, including the images used in advertising.