This year too, the International Women's Day was celebrated globally. Nepal too joined the bandwagon. Freedom Forum, a frontline CSO in Nepal, along with various other organizations, including NEFEJ, organized a program gathering more than 150 people from different walks of life.
With the theme of gender equality in Nepal media, a rally was organized from a local Exhibition Road to the Kathmandu Durbar Square. In the rally named 'Move for Women', the participants carried placards, reading: Respect Women; Let's Think for Women's Rights; Protect Women's Right; More Female in Media, Inclusive Media etc. The march was for sensitization of women rights and advocacy of equal rights of women in media.
Reaching the Kathmandu Durbar Square premise, the rally converged into corner gathering, which was addressed by representatives from various organizations.
Addressing the meeting, Secretary at Federation of Nepali Journalists, Ramesh Bista, urged the media to keep female inclusion in the top priority.
President of the Working Women Journalists, Amika Rajthala, stated that such events were important to sensitize and build pressure for the stakeholders to increase the number of female journalists in the media.
Similarly, FF's Chairperson Hari Binod Adhikari pointed out the need of woman empowerment for achieving sustainable development goals, where the media could also help from their sides.
General Secretary of NEFEJ Nepal, Nimesh Regmi, claimed that inclusion of socially excluded and marginalized groups including women should be of prime concern.
Representatives from Working Women Journalists, Sancharika Samuha, Minimum Wages Fixation Committee, Federation of Nepalese Indigenous Journalists, National Sports Journalists Forum too, were univocal about need to implement gender policies in the media houses for gender balanced news rooms.
The event also included poem recitation, song and dance performances by the journalism students from Dibyabhumi Multiple College in the theme of women empowerment and gender equality.
