Speed Post News Network
oNew Delhi : Union Women and Child Development (WCD) and Textiles Minister Smriti Zubin Irani on March 7, 2020, said investing in women is not just a social expenditure but it is an investment in the economy. New Delhi today. She was speaking at an event in New Delhi organised by the Press Information Bureau and the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) on the eve of Women’s Day celebrated across the world on March 8.
At the event, Irani released a report prepared by IIMC on the Status of Women in Media in South Asia. She congratulated IIMC for bringing out this report and said that it must be shared with the heads and owners of media houses to bring to their notice the gender gap and inequity that exists in newsrooms.
SmritiZubinIrani said that the Ministry of WCD will be happy to collaborate with the IIMC to conduct a study on the impact of evolving technology on women in media. She also said that research needs to be done on women in regional media and the support ecosystem required by them during their job in the field.
Prof. Veena Sikri, Founding Trustee and Convenor of South Asia Women’s Network, highlighted the findings of the report. The report sponsored by the UNESCO has been researched jointly by the South Asia Women’s Network (SWAN) and the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development. The working conditions of women in media was studied in nine countries of South Asia and has been brought out in two volumes. The full report is available on: http://www.swaninterface.net/report-on-the-status-of-women-in-media-in-south-asia-march-2020/
The event was attended by Principal Director General of the Press Information Bureau, New Delhi, Kuldeep Singh Dhatwalia, Principal Director General of News Services Division, All India Radio, Ira Joshi, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Atul Kumar Tiwari, senior officials of different media units of the Ministry of I&B, retired media heads of the I&B Ministry, and journalists, according to a PIB release.