International Women’s Day 2022: Media Freedom Coalition Statement

Today, on International Women’s Day 2022, the undersigned members of the MediaFreedom Coalition call attention to the safety of women journalists and mediaworkers. Women journalists are disproportionately targeted by harassment, threats,
sexist hate speech, trolling and violence. Many women journalists face multiple andintersecting forms of discrimination and gender-based violence because of othercharacteristics, including race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or genderidentity. A recent UNESCO study shows that almost 75 percent of women journalistsworldwide have experienced online gender-based violence.

Attacks on women journalists distort the media landscape by threatening diversity andperpetuating inequalities. Furthermore, the escalation of sexual and gender-basedviolence and harassment is of urgent concern and forms a serious threat to an inclusiveand diverse media landscape. It is a risk to media pluralism and democracy as a whole.
The threats women journalists and media workers face tend to silence their voices andlimit their ability to exercise their freedom of speech. Women should always be able tospeak out without fear of harassment, discrimination or violence. There is also in manyplaces a climate of impunity surrounding online attacks on women journalists and mediaworkers, which perpetuates the cycle of gender-based violence.

Striving towards gender balance in media leadership and ownership positions is criticalfor independent journalism to effectively pursue the public interest as it performs itsinformation-gathering and -sharing roles in society. Lack of gender balance in medialeadership results in blind spots, one-sided reporting and gender stereotyping.
Unfortunately, women often do not occupy positions of power and their access toleadership roles remains limited. This leaves women voices unheard, their stories untold,
and they are unable to break the glass ceiling.

Today, we call upon all countries to combat sexual and gender-based violence, protectwomen journalists and media workers both online and offline, and defend their ability topractice journalism freely and safely.

Signed: