Gujarat set for TV channel of Women, by Women, for Women

Gujarat may soon have a woman's only channel. A TV channel owned by a woman, operated by women and presenting shows that matter to women.  Darshana Jamindar, who is the founder of television channel Gujarat Headline, and a journalist herself came up with this idea. The channel of women, by women and for women will have cookery shows, fitness shows, self-help shows, news shows, debates etc with one focal point- women of course!

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In a conference held by the Women and Child Development Ministry ministry for women journalists last week, Darshana mentioned this idea to Maneka Gandhi. “Maneka ji found the idea of having a women-only channel very interesting and we appreciate the fact that she acknowledged it. We are in the process of meeting her to discuss the idea further as she encouraged on having a regional women’s-only channel in every state starting Gujarat,” said Darshana to SheThePeople.TV

Darshana Jamindar ( left) with the Minister for Woman and Child Development, Maneka Gandhi ( right). Picture Credit: Facebook

Darshana already has a channel called Gujarat Headline which has been on air for the past four years where all her staff-members are women who she has trained personally. Excited to be starting a new channel she said that she got inspired while she was making documentaries on women for a nationwide NGO, Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) and policymakers. “I saw so many women having the zeal to work or dropouts but still could not realize it because of family obligations. I wanted to do something about it and that is when I thought of starting a channel for completely run by women and making shows for women,” Darshana said in an interview with SheThePeople.

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She further opined that the best thing about this channel is since only women will be reporting for it, it is easier for other women to open up to them in case of sensitive issues. “Women can talk to other women very nicely and in issues like rape and other crimes, they can divulge information of what happened very freely to another woman. While talking to men they tend to shy away,” said Darshana who has about 5000 videos about women on YouTube.

The channel is speculated to start within a week in Gujarat. And after a couple of months she will begin training women in other states in television nitty-gritties so that the same can be repeated there as well.