Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Monday said female journalists could play key proactive role in changing mindset of new generation towards women as mother’s lad was the first training nursery for a child.

Speaking at the one-day workshop for female journalists on “Empowering women in media through inclusion, leadership and technology,” she said that women journalists have played an important role in transforming challenges into opportunities.

She said an enabling environment was mandatory to highlight the potential of women journalists. She said that that Information Service Academy would be utilised for capacity building and training of female journalists and such workshops and origination sessions would be held regularly in future.

Firdous Ashiq Awan said the Information Service Academy was going to take a leading role in training of journalists and media persons, especially women journalists. She said the dream of free and responsible media cannot be achieved unless women played the vanguard role. She said that it was unfortunate that various media houses were not paying attention towards capacity building of their staff.

She said that women journalists through their narrative, advocacy and communication skills could play important role in nation building process as no country could make progress without women participation.

She announced that the government was working for safety, security of media persons. She said that on the directives of Prime Minister a Media Café was being launched in ISA in which media persons would be invited to hold debate on the proposed policies of the government so that its policies should come up to the expectations of the masses.

She said that under the new law, the process and appointments and their dismissal from service would be done through a due process and they would be provided job - social - life security through the new legislation being discussed with stakeholders now.