The Centre for Investigative Reporting (CIR) and Strengthening Social Cohesion and Peace in Sri Lanka (SCOPE) recently hosted a workshop on gender-based violence and women’s political engagement for a group of women journalists.
The workshop titled Towards New and Inclusive Narratives was held on 3 December 2024 at the Mount Lavinia Hotel.
The workshop consisted of two panel discussions, a round table discussion, an experience-sharing session and a segment to develop recommendations to counter GBV and promote nondiscriminatory media.
The first panel titled ‘Lessons from 2024 elections: Defying GBV in politics’ looked at women representation in politics and new trends and featured Kanaka Abeygunawardana, Convener, Gender and Election Working Group (GEWG), Gagani Weerakoon, Associate Editor, Ceylon Today, and Nabeela Iqbal, Head of Operations/Founder, Sisterhood Initiative.
The second panel, titled ‘Media, Social Media, and GBV: A Critical Analysis’ looked at the role of media and social media in the context of increasing gender-based violence in the media, especially, technology-facilitated GBV. Hana Ibrahim, Editor of Daily/Weekend Express and Convenor of the Free Media Movement (FMM), and Radika Gunaratne, Founder/ Executive Director, Parivartan, lawyer and activist were the speakers.
Dilrukshi Handunnetti, CIR’s Director/ Co-Founder facilitated the day’s proceedings.
Over 25 mid-career and senior journalists attended the program and collectively developed recommendations to be proposed to identified stakeholder groups.
