MUMBAI: The fifth edition of the Laadli National Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity 2012 -13 for honoring media and advertising professionals was held on 13 December.

The Awards that were instituted in 2007, as part of the media advocacy efforts under the Laadli girl-child campaign, felicitates, acknowledges, recognises and encourages media, journalists and advertising professionals to keep working on gender issues and to draw the attention of the public to their positive efforts in the media with regard to gender sensitive reportage.  

Speaking at the event on Friday, High Court Judge, Justice Chandra Kumar said priority must be given to girl’s education. “The future of mankind depends upon the attitude towards women.” He said the authorities should ensure that there was no discrimination between boys and girls. Kumar later gave away the awards to winners from the southern and eastern regions.

United Nations Population Fund State Programme Officer, Maharashtra, Anuja Gulati regretted that gender inequality pervaded every sphere of life. However, she appreciated the way stories in the media on women were well-balanced and researched as she recalled the way the Nirbhaya incident had been reported.

Laadli Awards director AL Sarada said thanks to the media attention, there had indeed been a change in the way people perceived women. However, much more needed to be done, she said adding that a media monitoring commission would be formed soon.