Why Women’s Voices Still Remain Silenced in Global News Media?
Three decades following the 1995 Beijing Declaration of gender equality in media, the news environment all over the world is still characterised by highly-structural disequilibrium. Incremental gains notwithstanding, women continue to be overrepresented in the news, in editorial leadership, and as the face of the source, evidence of gender inequality in terms of how stories are narrated and whose views prevail.
According to new statistics published in 2025, only 26 percent of individuals featured in news in print, television, and radio in the world are women. Such invisibility is further reinforced by an underrepresentation of them in editorial roles and cultural biases that influence what is covered, and by whom.
Uneven progress since the Beijing platform
As per a global UN Women study published this year, women representation in news content has increased by just three percentage points since 2005. In spite of a growing diversity of the journalism workforce, however, women continue to be largely relegated to soft news such as health and education, as men occupy control of politics, economics, and national security.
The 26 percent data points to a disturbing stalemate, where both global newsrooms have not completely adopted or made gender-balanced reporting models a priority. The disparity is even greater in most parts of the world and in the Global South, women are not even heard in the discourse.
Editorial leadership remains male-dominated
Women make up around 40 percent of journalists around the world, but they are only 27 percent of those in the editor-in-chief roles, according to 2025 figures published by the Reuters Institute. UK is the country with 46 percent female leadership, the others are way behind South Korea, which has 7 percent, e.g.
This difference restricts the capacity of women to influence editorial agendas and choices and reinforces gendered reporting conventions. The media is yet to seize the chance to present more inclusive and equitable stories without meaningful representation in top positions.
Structural challenges inside news organizations
Women are not allowed to climb up the glass ceiling even though many of them participate equally in most newsrooms or even near-equally. Women find it difficult to rise to the top positions even when their qualifications match that of other applicants due to cultural stereotypes, gender roles, and the absence of mentorship.
The process of decision-making in most media organizations remains dominated by a predominantly male leadership who have established an editorial culture in which gender views are marginalized. Even liberal sources have challenges with unconscious prejudices that curtail the extent of coverage on matters concerning women.
Underrepresentation as sources and experts
In addition to the newsroom labor force, women are also regularly underrepresented as professional sources or even as subjects in reports. According to a 2025 global media monitoring report, there are twice as many quotations of men compared to those of women in political coverage. Not only does this skew distort popular conception, it strengthens the image of power as male.
Expert women in science, security and policy tend to be sidelined in favor of their male counterparts, narrowing the pool of thought available to the population, as well as, strengthening hierarchies.
Media’s role in shaping public perception
Media is an important element in the social construction of norms and especially in the domains of leadership, competence, and agency. When women are omitted in narrations or when they are projected in ways that perpetuate stereotypes, such images create an impression on the masses that can affect not only the election process but also the workplace culture.
An example of representation or lack of the same speaks volumes. When young women and girls do not often see themselves in influential roles on the news, it impacts their feeling of inclusion in the sphere of social life and in making decisions.
Cultural impact of limited gender perspectives
Such systemic underrepresentation influences the framing of major issues. Using climate change, health crisis, or armed conflict as an example, a problem without the perspectives of women lacks certain elements including how women are differentially affected by the same problem. This deficiency compromises the ability of journalism to inform the entire society and to serve all.
In strengthening male-dominant discourse, media institutions are effectively endorsing patterns of marginalization, both in journalism and in more general civic engagement.
Opportunities for reform and inclusion
Researchers and campaigners believe that media corporations should stop talking and invest in systematic reforms. Setting gender-equity in leadership targets are important, building mentoring schemes among the next generation of female journalists and introducing gender audits into the editorial profession.
Openness in recruitment, advancement, and newspaper policy can transform cultures within organizations and allow more representative decisions to be made. Also, funders and regulators can fund diversity tied to quantifiable inclusion standards.
Rethinking how stories are told
Increasing the presence of women in the media is also understanding how to change the framing of stories. Intersectional approaches that acknowledge women as agents rather than victims or passive subjects need to be given priority by journalists and editors. Having women professionals, commentators, and heads in all beat genres is not only more informative but also enhances democracy through talk.
Not only do newsrooms with gender diversity in their sourcing practices generate more accurate content, they also establish trust among a broader audience base. Inclusion is not a niche, it is a journalism requirement.
Persistent gaps demand public accountability
In a recent social media post, journalist Richard Amenyah said that what has caused the consistent dehumanization of the North African woman in world news media is a failure of leadership, as well as a failure on purpose. He has highlighted how accountability and action must be sustained to overturn decades of imbalance and put gender equity on the newsroom agenda.
This is the echo of more general appeals by civil society and gender rights organizations, who emphasize that the days of symbolic commitments are over. True change needs long-term institutional investment and strategies based on data.
Toward a more representative media future
Journalism has a future based on how it mirrors the societies in which it operates. It has become not a precondition, but a validation requirement, sustainability and creativity, at a time when digital platforms, geopolitical change and increasing social inequality are transforming the world.
Whether women should have a say in the news when reporting is not merely a question of fairness, but what it takes to make journalism fair, accurate and effective. Media houses that overcome this challenge will not only correct the historical imbalance, but will be better placed to offer a more informed and well-balanced global story.
