19 Mar 2025 CSW69 panel calls for reform of global framework to safeguard women’s communication and digital rights

Binding frameworks and renewed action are needed to advance gender justice in and through the media 30 years after United Nations member states adopted the Beijing Platform for Action, concluded a parallel event co-organized by WACC at the 69th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

The event “Section J @ Beijing+30: Safeguarding Women’s Communication & Digital Rights” last week took stock of progress – or the lack thereof – in the “Women and the Media” area of the Beijing Platform as part of the CSW69 review of the landmark roadmap to advance women’s rights worldwide. Co-convener was the Global Alliance on Media and Gender (GAMAG).

Disregard for commitments of Beijing Platform

The global media landscape has evolved dramatically since 1995, but commitments to gender equality in and through the media have not kept pace, GAMAG Chair Aimée Vega Montiel of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) said in her introduction.

“The Beijing Platform for Action established principles and actions to turn media and digital technologies into allies for women. Evidence shows that these recommendations have been widely disregarded by governments and media and telecommunications companies as well.”

Vega Montiel added that newer players in the industry like social media platforms have also failed to take responsibility to implement effective strategies to protect women’s human – and communication – rights.

In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a movement away from advancement of women in society, which included the dismantling of regulatory frameworks, policies, and budgets, according to the gender and media expert.

“The transformations, and corresponding and emerging gender issues, of the last three decades make it important to take stock and suggest a way forward if intervention strategies on media and information and communication technologies (ICTs) are to be relevant.”

Inequality in and through media persists in digital landscape

Technological advancements, shifts in audience behaviour, and evolving business models have transformed the global media ecosystem profoundly over the past 30 years, said Sarah Macharia, WACC program manager for Gender and Communication.

From a dominance of print, broadcast, and radio in 1995 we moved to digital dominance in 2025, she noted, with alternative and social media taking their places in the media landscape and a regulatory environment that is much more complex.

At the same time, results from WACC’s flagship Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) show that “women’s experiences of underrepresentation, misrepresentation, and discrimination have remained at status quo, become worse, or improved only incrementally,” said Macharia, who gives global oversight to the GMMP.

According to findings from the most recent GMMP in 2020, all things remaining equal, it will take at least a further almost seven decades to close the average gender equality gap in mainstream legacy news media.

“Women are underrepresented across all the identity groups,” she said. “The surprise is not that gender inequality still exists in the news industry; it is the extent of inequality, the spread across the world, and the snail’s pace rate of progress since Beijing.”

A gender analysis of media regulatory frameworks including legislation and statutory and industry polices covering 197 countries reveals gaping inadequacies, Macharia continued.

The principle of gender equality in media practice is being neglected, she noted, with policies and laws lacking gender equality provisions and often broad, general wording in statutory frameworks that leaves the media industry to self-regulate when it comes to the details.

Regional spotlights on implementation of Section J

Just a handful of actors have given attention to the issues raised in Section J, among them the volunteer GMMP network present in more than 100 countries. Panelists from the network gave regional perspectives on implementation of the UN commitments to “Women and the Media” since Beijing.

Progress and contemporary challenges in Africa

In Africa, progress has been made towards fulfilling the aspirations of Section J, Amie Joof-Cole, of the Inter-African Network for Women, Media, Gender and Development (FAMEDEV) in Senegal, reported.

The Platform for Action has paved the way for regular coverage of women’s rights and gender justice issues as well as an increased number of women in journalism and resources and teaching programs on gender and the media, she noted. And there has been significant progress in regulatory and legislative frameworks, she added.

The GMMP has been a driver of change, with successes in gender media policy advocacy, policy development, and stronger media capacity, according to Joof-Cole, who is the GMMP coordinator for Senegal and for the West & Central Africa region.

“This monitoring model did not exist before Beijing and is increasingly used in sectors such as reporting poverty, agriculture, elections and women’s participation and many other areas.”

The evolution of media since Beijing poses contemporary challenges for safeguarding women’s communication rights that must be addressed, she said, noting, among other threats, the rise in gendered mis- and disinformation and online violence against women and girls.

The time for more action is now, Joof-Cole said, to review and expand Section J to integrate these new and complex areas.

“Governments, the international community and the donor community have reneged on their promises. Let’s tackle them fearlessly through strong advocacy based on evidence.”

Women’s communication rights still under threat in Asia

Much has changed in Asia the last 30 years, both in a positive and negative sense, emphasized Hang Pham, from CGFED (Research Centre for Gender, Family and Environment in Development), the GMMP national coordinating organisation in Vietnam.

She noted that new technology is creating job opportunities for women and technology and social media are being used to share information, fight against gender inequality, and empower women’s voices and participation.

“Then there are the new difficulties that could hardly have been imagined in Beijing three decades ago” including threats to women’s communication rights from digital technology.

She said that technological advancements are widening gender inequality, as women have less access to the internet and digital tools, training, and education. In addition, algorithms and the overall design of digital technologies often perpetuate gender biases and discrimination against women and girls.

Women in Asia and the Pacific region, in particular activists and journalists, are increasingly vulnerable to online gender-based violence including stalking, harassment, and state surveillance, Pham reported. Deep-rooted gender norms, combined with digital threats, limit their safety and public participation.

“The gender digital divide and violence in digital spaces further hinder women’s public participation and leadership, exacerbating socioeconomic and political gender disparities.”

These realities are encompassed in the personal story Pham shared about her fear after learning that her 15-year-old daughter wants to become a journalist.

“Now is the 21st century, thirty years after the Beijing Declaration. There are still mothers like me who feel scared when their daughter says she wants to be a journalist. There are still many girls like my daughter who are not free to choose the career they want because there are too many barriers.”

Latin America: Action needed to stop violence against women journalists

Data from the GMMP indicate that the most progress towards gender equality in and through the news media in the 30 years of the Beijing Platform has been made in the Latin America region, said Cirenia Celestino Ortega from CIMAC, the GMMP coordinating organisation for Latin America and Mexico.

There has been “a consistent, slow pace of cumulative change over time,” with clear evidence of women journalists acting as agents of change, observed Celestino, who is also a member of the WACC Regional Executive Committee for Latin America.

Women journalists challenge stereotypes twice as often in their reporting, addressing discriminatory and violent content, she noted. “This means that having women in leadership positions within media companies is an opportunity to transform media narratives.”

At the same time, the rights and safety of women journalists are at serious risk, both within and outside media companies, simply for doing their job, Celestino stressed.

She said that women journalists face inequalities such as gender pay gaps and occupational segregation. And they are regularly subjected to gender-based violence ranging from threats, intimidation, and harassment to information blockades, arbitrary detentions, judicial persecution, and forced displacement and physical attacks, even death, with an estimated 12 feminicides of women media professionals between 2012 and 2024.

In light of this data, it is clear that Section J has failed to meet its commitments, Celestino concluded. She called for a new, third objective to eradicate violence against women journalists and guarantee their safety and protection.

Erasure of women’s voices in Palestine

Thirty years after Beijing, women in Palestine, including women journalists, are being actively silenced and targeted with violence, according to a representative from the organisation Women Media and Development (TAM), the GMMP national coordinating organisation in Palestine.

The representative spoke of how Palestinian women journalists have been shot in the light of duty despite wearing a press vest and killed in airstrikes, while Israeli bombing of Palestinian media buildings cuts off the ability of Palestinian reporters to broadcast.

The representative reported that all Palestinian women face threats, forced search of communication devices, violence, detention, and imprisonment when they attempt to participate in media spaces or speak up against the genocide.

“Any Palestinian citizen of the occupying state who speaks about the genocide is arrested and charged with ‘supporting terrorism,’ which blacklists them internationally. This prevents them from working, traveling, or even expressing solidarity with Gaza.”

This systematic erasure of Palestinian women’s voices extends to social media platforms, the TAM representative said, through shadow banning that blocks content without notification and content being hidden in certain geographical areas or due to use of keywords related to the conflict.

This ensures that the only narratives about the war in Gaza that are accessible in Western countries are coming from Israel, they said.

In addition, they said that “Palestinian women are not just silenced but actively misrepresented by Western media … as either victims or non-existent … which distorts reality and justifies war crimes.”

The TAM representative called for accountability. “We know how powerful media is – it shapes narratives, influences politics, and determines whose lives are valued. Instead of being used for justice, media is weaponized to misrepresent the genocide in Gaza, manipulate global perceptions, and silence Palestinian voices. Western governments and media outlets must be held accountable.”

Enforceable policies needed to stop online violence against women

That new global commitments are needed now to turn digital media into allies for women was underlined by findings from a WACC-supported project to counter misogyny and tech-facilitated gender-based violence in Nigeria presented by Blessing Oladunjoye of Journalists for Christ (JFC), a WACC member and GMMP participating organisation.

Citing research conducted with the social media monitoring methodology adapted from the GMMP, Oladunjoye underlined the devasting impact that online violence has on the lives of women and girls including depression, anxiety, and even suicidal intent.

She noted that it is particularly worrying when threats on social media platforms silence women journalists because they self-censor or leave platforms altogether.

Beijing’s Section J assumed that increased digital participation would be inherently beneficial, but the reality 30 years later is that women and girls face widespread TFGBV, from online harassment to algorithmic biases that reinforce discrimination, said Oladunjoye.

She called for a global digital safety standard requiring tech companies to integrate TFGBV prevention and response measures in their platforms. “This is critical because tech companies shape digital interactions, yet they often neglect gendered safety concerns in platform design, moderation, and policies.”

Such regulations should be binding not voluntary to ensure accountability and mechanisms to publicly report TFGBV cases, response times, and actions taken, Oladunjoye stressed.

Macharia observed that “TFGBV is not just a women’s issue. It is a human rights crisis that undermines democracy.”

Reform of existing policies is needed, with enforceable policies that demand accountability from tech companies in a shift from voluntary commitments to binding commitments that make digital spaces truly safe and inclusive for all, she said in conclusion.

While noting that “recent events on the global stage have been and continue to be a trial of endurance for gender equality work in general and women’s communication rights in particular,” Macharia urged participants not to let their commitment to be dampened by current crises.

“As UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his opening address to CSW69, ‘the antidote is action.’”