Chetna Verma receives 'The Laadli Media and Advertising Awards'

To salute the work of mediapersons committed to work on gender issues, Population First and UNFPA announced the winners of the sixth edition of 'The Laadli Media and Advertising Awards' for gender sensitivity (northern region) 2013-14 yesterday.

The ceremony took place at the Muktakash Manch, Mahant Ghasidas Museum Campus, Raipur, where Chetna Verma who works for the non-profit Charkha Development Communication Network was awarded among others for Best Op-ed in print category.

The problems faced by women in conflict areas often remain unexplored in the mainstream media.

ChetnaVerma's editorial 'Women in conflict' focuses on the positive stories of women who are valiantly fighting against denial and deprivation that they constantly face in a conflict situation - be it war, militancy or naxalism.

Covering a wide and contrasting geographic area spanning from tribal belt of Chhattisgarh to Jammu and Kashmir, Chetna highlights the struggles and victories of women who are not just victims of political conflict but also the social conflict of discrimination and violence.

The jury, which included highly esteemed members of the media, selected the 19 winners from 293 entries received from northern region, namely Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

The awards were given away by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and Shatabdi Pandey, Chairperson, Child Rights Protection Commission, Chhattisgarh. The event was supported by Directorate of Culture and Archaeology, Chhattisgarh.

Dr. A. L. Sharada, Director of Population First, said it is heartening to note that there is a perceptible change in advertising in the past one year and what is more encouraging is that a research study by Hansahad showed that such gender sensitive advertising is actually helping build brand identities.

"A similar change is visible in media and films as well, though to a lesser extent. There is a need to focus on building a larger pool of advertising, media and allied professionals who are trained in gender sensitive reporting and programming. Population First would be organizing many more workshops, consultations and training programmes in the year 2015 to take the movement forward," he added.

Laadli is a campaign launched by Population First in 2005 to address the mindsets that discriminate against women, promote inequalities and justify gender based violence. Laadli works with the major influencers - media, advertising and youth to change the way India perceives and treats its women.

Youth based campaigns, media fellowships, media and advertising workshops, innovative web based campaigns are undertaken by Laadli to keep the media, advertising and youth engaged with gender issues.