13 May 2025 Women and the media: Stocktaking, realigning and reigniting Section J at Beijing+30

Sarah Macharia

“It is not enough to just reflect on progress, we must reignite the process.”

– ECOSOC president, H.E. Bob Rae. Speech at the opening of the 69th CSW. 10 March 2025

Political declarations adopted by the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the decade milestones of the 1995 Fourth UN World Conference on Women emphatically underscore the Beijing Platform for Action¹ as the most significant and comprehensive gender policy blueprint ever created. At the Platform’s 30-year anniversary in 2025, the Commission recognized that new challenges have emerged and implementation gaps are evident in all 12 critical areas of concern, including “women and the media”.²

Relevant to the media theme, the Commission recommited to take “further concrete action by combatting the use of digital tools and artificial intelligence for causing harm to women and girls” (para 15 j pg.6). The Commission cited women journalists and media professionals among those actors working to defend, protect and promote human rights and fundamental freedoms”, promising to support safe and enabling environments for them (para 15 p. pg.7).

“Women and the Media” (Section J) is one of the 12 critical areas in the Platform for Action (PfA). Section J recognized both the transformative potential and challenges of media and information technologies for advancing gender equality. The text groups several recommendations under two strategic objectives. The first, to enhance women’s participation in media (obj. J.1), the second, to promote balanced media portrayals of women (obj. J.2).

Section J underlines the media’s potential transformative power for women’s progress if certain conditions are fulfilled: that structural inequalities, harmful representations and unequal access to media and communication technologies, are addressed. The range of duty bearers named include governments, media organizations, NGOs, and educational institutions. The recommendations balance regulatory approaches with respect for freedom of expression, calling for policy change and voluntary industry measures to create more inclusive and representative media systems.

While not all the current dimensions of the women and media experience were reflected in the analysis contained in Section J, the transformations 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.

The global picture 1995 – 2025

The media landscape has undergone dramatic transformation in the period since Beijing, largely due to technological advancement. The same is not true of the status of women in global and regional communication and media ecosystems; the position of women has stagnated, worsened on some dimensions, and where improvements are registered, they have come at a glacial pace.

Three decades ago, news was curated by professional journalists working in structured media houses. Today, digital platforms and social media have democratized content creation, but women’s visibility as reporters and news subjects has barely improved. According to the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP), women constitute just 25% of news subjects and interviewees – a mere 8-point increase since 1995 (Macharia, 2021). At this rate, closing the gender gap in legacy media would take a further seven decades or so.

Women from marginalized groups – indigenous women, migrants, ethnic minorities, and women with disabilities – face even greater exclusion. While disparities vary by country (ranging from -44% to 92%, regional averages reveal consistent global imbalances. Even in regions and nations with relatively better performance on media and gender metrics, progress remains uneven and insufficient.

A review of media regulation across almost 200 countries (Macharia & Barata, 2022) found that one-third of media laws contain no gender equality provisions. Nearly half of these capture gender issues under general non-discrimination clauses but are often vague and weak. Most treat gender as one characteristic in a list of identities rather than raising its importance as a concern affecting half of the population. Transnational, regional and national regulatory frameworks have not led to the structural change hoped for in Beijing. Compliance with industry ethics codes and standards is spotty, varying across regions and nation States but nevertheless have not resulted in systemic transformation.

Thirty years after Beijing, global gender and media metrics indicate that the status quo has shifted only slightly. Present day political rhetoric railing against “gender” as a concept, as policy and as practice has heightened the risk of reversal of the hard-won small gains.

Information and Communication Technologies

Discussions about the role of information and communication technologies in women’s human rights have been on the feminist agenda for a few decades. This agenda has expanded with the proliferation of media and platforms brought about by digital transformation. While the digital ecosystem has made the challenge more complex, the debates still revolve around power, discrimination, inequality, and violence against women.

Evidence indicates that digital entrants into the media and communication space such as social media platforms have followed the example of governments and legacy media companies. They too have failed to adopt effective strategies to protect women’s human rights online. On the one hand, the gender gap in Internet use is slowly closing. “Globally, 70 per cent of men are using the Internet, compared with 65 per cent of women. This means there are 189 million more men than women using the Internet in 2024. This difference has been decreasing since 2021, when it stood at 277 million”. (International Telecommunication Union, 2024).

On the other hand, technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) is a growing global problem. Most governments do not systematically collect the data and, depending on how the question is framed, prevalence rates of girls and women reporting having experienced some form of online violence vary significantly (see the UN Secretary-General’s report, 2024). Violence against women journalists, online and offline, has increased dramatically the world over. They continue to face disproportionate risks of physical, psychological and sexual violence. This violence often happens with the consent of the States, which results in a cycle of impunity, and in contexts where news media companies do not guarantee safe working conditions for their female staff.

The heart of women’s rights violations online lies in non-compliance by States with UN human rights treaties, as well as non-compliance of media companies with laws and regulations enacted at global, national and industry levels. Media and telecommunications sectors habitually oppose regulation that attempts to protect women’s communication rights in all spaces. Feminist analyses link the downgrading of these rights in the digital world to the rise of misogyny and anti-gender equality discourse offline and online.

Regional reflections

Africa

Over the past three decades at least, the African region has consistently set the lowest bar in comparison to the rest of the world with respect to gender equality measures in the news. GMMP data reveal the region’s rate of change towards parity in portrayal and representation to be the slowest in comparison to the rest of the world. In legacy media, African women are only one out of five of the people in the stories, that is those who are the subjects of the articles or are interviewed. The patterns of women’s relative invisibility, lack of voice and underrepresentation as active participants in economic and political life are mirrored in online news platforms. The quality of African journalism from a gender perspective declined in the period between 2010 and 2020, with a smaller proportion of stories clearly challenging gender stereotypes and fewer with women as the central protagonists.

This downward trend emerged despite a slight (+2 point) improvement in the proportion of stories reported by women. One exception is South Africa, an outlier on the continent in almost all gender equality in news performance measures. However “the challenges for women in the South African media are becoming less about numbers, and more about the underlying sexism in the media, with new threats like cyber misogyny emerging” (Daniels & Nyamweda, 2019). Insights on change in the status of different groups of women differentiated by ethnicity, class, ability, and other cultural, social, economic and political strata are lacking due to a dearth of nuanced intersectional studies on this theme.

Media employment for women has changed dramatically. Today, jobs are scarcer and more precarious for those working in mainstream media. Underfunding of public media and donor dependency of independent media have inject a new precarity to all jobs and particularly for women workers who are characteristically treated as more dispensable and the first to be let go when jobs shrink. Community and online media outlets owned, managed and single-handedly run by women are numerous but their nature mirrors women’s micro enterprises in the sprawling informal economy; they are established with meagre capital from owners, benevolent family members and friends, and rarely, if ever, advance from subsistence into profitability.

Positive developments since Beijing include the adoption of gender language in media spaces, leading to sustained coverage of women’s rights issues and fostering unprecedented collaboration between media houses, NGOs, and government agencies. Educational reforms have been particularly noteworthy, with journalism schools across the continent integrating gender modules and establishing specialized graduate study programs. This academic evolution has contributed to destabilizing the idea that technical broadcasting and production roles can only be fulfilled by men.

Policy frameworks on the continent have benefitted from landmark instruments, notably the Maputo Protocol (2003) and various national parity laws. Media monitoring initiatives inspired largely by the GMMP have created new accountability measures, while women’s increasing presence in media leadership roles – though still limited – represents an important cultural shift. The gains however remain fragile and unevenly distributed across nations.

The digital revolution introduced new dimensions of inequality, with women journalists facing escalating online harassment and systemic exclusion from emerging technologies. As newsrooms rapidly adopt AI-driven journalism, male-dominated decision-making structures risk embedding new forms of bias that could reverse hard-won progress. The threats extend beyond the professional sphere, with misinformation campaigns increasingly targeting women activists and marginalized groups with potentially deadly consequences.

Asia-Pacific

The region has witnessed an evolution of general gender regulatory frameworks at national and transnational levels. Media monitoring has provided a tool to build evidence and drive advocacy, build the capacity of journalists on gender-sensitive reporting, and enhance journalism training to include gender modules. At the same time technology has reinforced inequality. Women in rural and marginalized communities face limited access to phones, computers, and the internet. Even when online, they confront TFGBV which silences dissent and stifles participation. Algorithmic biases in AI and automation disproportionately exclude women from platform jobs or “gig work”, replicating offline discrimination in the tech-driven world of work.

Latin America

Latin America has made notable progress in gender representation in media since Beijing, yet systemic barriers and violence against women journalists remain severe. GMMP data reveals that the region leads on numerous gender in media dimension, perhaps manifesting the links and feedbacks between vibrant women’s rights activism, transformation of everyday gender politics and media practice. However, indigenous women remain severely underrepresented, accounting for just 3% of news coverage despite making up 8% of the population, half of whom are women.

Women’s experiences in the media follow the general patterns of structural discrimination. Women journalists are paid less for the same work as men. A 2018 report from the International Federation of Journalists indicates that women were concentrated in lower-paid media jobs and only 25% held media leadership positions. Glass ceilings, inflexible schedules, and poor parental leave policies stifle career advancement. Sexual harassment by their male colleagues and superiors has led many to leave the profession. In 2024 alone, 204 women journalists were attacked – one every two days – primarily while covering news on politics, corruption, and human rights.

Despite constitutional protections, governments have failed to prosecute aggressors who are often state officials. They have failed to enforce applicable laws such as Mexico’s general law on women’s right to a life free of violence.

Middle East – the Palestine case

In the Middle East, the Palestine case presents one of the most extreme examples of gendered media suppression. Palestinian women journalists and activists face targeted violence, censorship, and systemic erasure for challenging the narrative of occupation. A non-profit organisation based in Bethlehem attests to the threats to women journalists when reporting on the dominant story – that of Israel’s war on Gaza. Among the well-known cases are Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, Origin of the Story host Eman Hatem Shanti, Palestinian News Agency journalist Alaa Alhams and filmmaker Wala Sadah.³  The source reports on arbitrary arrests, sexual violence, and psychological torture that women journalists are subjected to for speaking out. Their phones are searched at checkpoints and women in general are detained for social media activism.

The source states that western media and tech platforms actively suppress Palestinian voices through shadow-banning, geo-blocking and ad restrictions. Posts about Gaza have seen engagement drop from thousands to just hundreds, Instagram’s Eye on Palestine is hidden in Western countries, and humanitarian stories are blocked from promotion, even after removing keywords like “Palestine”.

Representation in western media often dehumanizes Palestinian women and girls, dismissing them as collateral damage and portraying them as passive victims rather than leaders and agents of resistance.

Post Beijing+30: Realigning Section J

Section J is an important policy foundation, but it needs radical updating to reflect present-day realities. The 1995 recommendations hold true in some respects. Women remain underrepresented in media leadership, harmful gender stereotypes endure to the same extent as three decades ago and the gender digital gap persists particularly for rural women, indigenous and low-income women who face the steepest barriers.

Section J’s analysis and recommendations are dated as far as various issues are concerned. Notably, the text lacks foresight on digital harms to women, imagining ICTs to be inherently empowering. The possibility of new frontiers was not captured, artificial intelligence for example, algorithmic discrimination against women, and technology-facilitated gender-based violence. The text strongly emphasizes self-regulation as an intervention measure, but the reality today indicates this to be insufficient. Section J falls short on integrating intersectionality, that is, underlining how factors such as race, class, ethnicity or disability compound gender-based discrimination and exclusion. The case of Palestine points to a gap in recognizing the possibility of weaponisation of media and today’s censorship tactics that further compound harms to women and women journalists in war zones.

Therefore, while several recommended actions remain relevant, the following revisions are proposed to the respective strategic objectives.

On strategic objective J.1. which aims to “increase the participation and access of women to expression and decision-making in and through the media and new technologies of communication”, adjust to include:

Governments and as appropriate, regulatory bodies in State, media and tech industries must:

• Establish stronger accountability mechanisms and gender-responsive policies in media and the technology sectors.
• Collect gender-disaggregated data for inclusive law for data-driven policymaking.
• Centre women’s voices in newsrooms and in development of artificial intelligence.
• Expand partnerships to include regional cooperation blocs such as ECOWAS and SADC to enable structural collaboration.
• End use of media as a weapon of war to stop intensifying women’s suffering and address disinformation.

 

On strategic objective J.2. which seeks to “promote a balanced and non-stereotyped portrayal of women in the media”, revise the recommendation regarding violence against women and children in the media. Governments, media and tech industries must:

• Strengthen protections against online violence for instance by promoting digital literacy. Such reframing incorporates online threats to women and girls and combines safety and education for a holistic approach.

 

A new strategic objective J.3. is proposed to build a digital world that promotes and respects the human rights of women and girls in and through technology.

Governments and as appropriate, regulatory bodies in State, media and tech industries must:

• Establish and enforce global digital safety standards for prevention of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV). Regulations must be binding and compliance mandatory.
• Address AI-driven discrimination and algorithmic bias.
• Publish reports on TFGBV case resolution rates, for transparency.
• Create monitoring systems on TFGBV. This action introduces platform accountability as a requirement.
• Establish feminist-informed online safety protocols for women journalists.
• End shadow-banning, as algorithmic suppression of women’s voices and content relevant to them flouts women’s digital rights.

 

Governments and donors must:

• Fund women in tech innovation, recognizing the need to support women’s technology entrepreneurship.

 

While incremental, the progress on Section J since Beijing suggests that change is possible. Threats to gender equality and women’s rights are more pressing than they ever were. To quote UN Secretary-General António Guterres, “Three decades on, the promise [of Beijing] feels more distant than we might ever have imagined. The poison of patriarchy is back – and it is back with a vengeance. […] But there is an antidote. That antidote is action.”⁴

Notes

1. United Nations Specialised Conferences, Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action, adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women, -, United Nations, 27 October 1995, https://www.refworld.org/legal/resolution/un/1995/en/73680 [accessed 02 April 2025]

2. Political declaration on the thirtieth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women. Commission on the Status of Women Sixty-ninth session. New York, 10–21 March 2025. https://docs.un.org/en/E/CN.6/2025/L.1 (Commission on the Status of Women, 2025).

3. Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead by Israeli forces despite wearing a press vest on 11 May 2022. Eman Hatem Shanti was killed in an airstrike alongside her family on 11 December 2024. Alaa Alhams died in a second bombing on 12 February 2024 after surviving an initial strike that killed 10 relatives. Wala Sadah was killed in an attack on a displacement tent on 2 March 2024.

4. https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/speech/2025/03/remarks-of-the-un-secretary-general-at-the-opening-of-the-69th-session-of-the-commission-on-the-status-of-women

References

Commission on the Status of Women. (2025, March 21). Political declaration on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women. https://docs.un.org/en/E/CN.6/2025/L.1

Daniels, G., & Nyamweda, T. (2019). Glass Ceilings Women in South African media houses 2018 Introducing a new chapter on Cyber Misogyny.

International Telecommunication Union. (2024). Measuring digital development: Facts and Figures.

Macharia, S. (2021). Who makes the news? The Global Media Monitoring Project (6th ed.). World Association for Christian Communication (WACC). https://whomakesthenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/GMMP2020_ENG-FINAL.pdf

Macharia, S., & Barata, J. (2022). Global Study: Gender Equality and Media Regulation. Fojo, Linnaeus University.

UN Secretary-General. (2024, October 8). Intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls: technology-facilitated violence against women and girls.