OPINION: Violence Against Women Change Minds, Broaden Horizons

Merely reporting on violence against women cannot put an end to this “heinous crime”. Instead, changing mindsets and the social outlook of people can help make a big difference.

“Role of Media in Addressing Violence Against Women” organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) on Monday highlighted this issue. The talk hosted Bushra Iqbal, editor Online News, Mome Saleem, research associate SDPI, Ali Jan Mangi and Manzoor Soomro, news reporters, along with others.

Media plays a crucial role in raising public awareness and serves as a catalyst in providing justice to victims of gender violence. However, in order to put pressure on the law enforcing agencies, it is important to do follow-up stories on these incidents, participants said.

Speaking on the occasion, Manzoor Soomro from Balochistan said it is difficult to report cases of violence against women in his region because of the strict tribal system.

He narrated a story of Sughra Bibi, a resident of Khairpur who was married to a man who later turned out to be impotent. She shared the issue with her mother and sought a divorce. Bibi was beaten up, tortured and eventually burnt with a hot steel rod by her husband and his brother for disclosing this fact.

“Police registered the report after much reluctance when I broke the story on the channel I work for and other media agencies followed,” he said.

Ali Jan Magsi added that sometimes victims are put under pressure and forced to change their statements. This creates problems for mediapersons and damages their credibility, while the people who had taken law into their hands by committing such acts are further encouraged.

On the other hand, Imdad Hussain termed violence against women a cultural issue, fostered by the social belief system that existed locally. “Rather than being rooted in religion or politics, it is more of a cultural problem,” he said.
Referring to the tradition of “Sawara”, he asked why women had to bear the brunt of crimes committed by their brothers, fathers or any one else.

Another participant, Bushra Iqbal, said although the media is positively highlighting incidents of violence against women, it is still not part of the mainstream media.

Research Associate from SDPI, Mome Saleem, while sharing the findings of her recent research said they collected about 40 case studies on incidents of violence against women and found that in 25 per cent of the instances, media was instrumental in influencing the authorities and aiding the victims.