Kathmandu, November 14 Media experts today said that the country cannot develop until there is quantitative and qualitative increment in the number of women in all sectors, including the media. Speaking at a programme organised here today by Working Women Journalists to celebrate its 10th year of establishment, Borna Bahadur Karki, chairperson of Press Council Nepal, stressed the need to increase women’s participation in all sectors for the country’s development. Karki lamented the decreasing number of women journalists in the media sector. He said, “The number of women in media and journalism is decreasing. We need to introduce policies to retain the existing female journalists and encourage newcomers.” He also informed that PCN is taking steps to ensure that there is a women-friendly environment in media houses. “We have recently formed a taskforce to draft gender directives to ensure that the content disseminated by the media does not offend women,” he said. Similarly, Dr Mahendra Bista, president of the Federation of Nepali Journalists, said that women make up 17 per cent of active journalists in media, while a study report by Sancharika Samuha said that the number of women make up 25 per cent of all journalists. Addressing the programme, Chairperson of WWJ Subhechha Bindu reiterated that the organisation will always be working for qualitative and quantitative increase of women journalists in the media. She said, “We will always work to increase the number of women journalists in the media and in decision-making levels as well as to reduce discrimination against women and control all kinds of violence and harassment in the workplace.” During the programme, WWJ feted 13 women from different sectors. Deepa Gautam, director of Nepal Television, Nirmala Acharya, general manager of Rastriya Samachar Samiti, Mira Hada, senior obstetrician and gynaecologist, Meera Dhungana, the president of the Forum for Women, Law, and Development, Sangita Lama, the founding president of WWJ and others were feted for their endless contribution.