JournalismPakistan.com | Published 10 years ago
Join our WhatsApp channel
BANGKOK: Although the presence of women in media has more than doubled in two decades, they constitute only 28.6 per cent of the media workforce in Asia and the Pacific. Men outnumber women 4:1 in India and 5:1 in Pakistan.
Pakistan also has one of the worst gender imbalances in terms of the gender pay gap. These are some of the findings of a new study, "Inside the News: Challenges and Aspirations of Women Journalists in Asia and the Pacific", launched by UNESCO, and the UN Women and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). It was released on Monday.
Only two regions in the world, Eastern Europe and Nordic Europe, have crossed "one-third Rubicon" occupying 33 per cent or more of the top management and governance jobs in the media. Asia and the Pacific are located at the other end of the scale with "women occupying only about a fifth of governance positions and holding less than 10 per cent of top management jobs".
It is not just in numbers but also in salaries that women are adversely affected. "There is a clear gender pay gap, with women on average earning $436 per month, compared with men earning $506 per month," the report says.
Cambodia and Pakistan had the widest gender pay-gap with men earning much higher salaries. Pakistan, the report says, has one of the worst gender imbalances evidenced in the research in terms of the gender pay gap.
The report states that sexual harassment remains a key issue in media workplaces with 34 per cent of journalists in Asia and the Pacific saying they witnessed sexual harassment at work. At least 17 per cent of female journalists have personally experienced workplace sexual harassment, and 59 per cent of the time it is a superior who is the perpetrator.
The report, which analyzed the media in seven countries in Asia and the Pacific, reported that Sri Lanka and Malaysia had the highest incidence of sexual harassment among respondents at 27.7 per cent and 20.6 per cent respectively.
Further, nearly half of all respondents (42.5 per cent) said there was no official complaints cell or anti-sexual harassment policy in their workplace.
In its analysis of the Indian media scene, the report remarks that the country has a well-established media and its strong media landscape was full of women journalists.
"Yet while the advantage of class, caste and higher education has seen some women climb to the top rungs of the profession, the majority of women journalists today are still concentrated on the middle and lower rungs of the profession."
Sexual harassment remains a critical issue for the industry, the report adds.
In Pakistan, the report says, despite a vibrant media industry, "the media and its unions remain extremely male-dominated with women coming up against 'glass ceilings' and slowed down by 'sticky floors', evidenced in the lack of women in decision-making roles".
Nevertheless, women within the industry are strong and defiant, and are regularly challenging this status quo on gender rights issues and sexual harassment.
In terms of portrayal of women in the media, in South Asia, respondents felt women were most commonly depicted as 'victims', whereas in South East Asia and the Pacific respondents felt women were most commonly depicted as 'family figures'. - Press release
October 31, 2025: Police foiled a plot to kill DawnNewsTV journalist Tahir Naseer in Rawalpindi after arresting suspects hired for Rs200,000. Naseer says threats followed his reporting.
October 31, 2025: CPJ calls on Pakistan to bring Imtiaz Mir’s killers to justice after the journalist was allegedly murdered by a banned militant group in Karachi.
October 30, 2025: The PFUJ has condemned a fabricated drug case against journalist Matiullah Jan, calling it an attempt to silence him and urging authorities to quash the charges immediately.
October 30, 2025: NewsOne TV remains on air but faces mass layoffs and delayed salaries, exposing Pakistan’s worsening media crisis and financial instability.
October 28, 2025: Sindh Police arrested four suspects linked to a banned outfit in the murder of journalist Imtiaz Mir, who was shot in Karachi in September 2025.
October 26, 2025: Riffat Ara Alvi, the mother of slain Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif, has died, ending her relentless fight for justice following his killing in Kenya in 2022.
October 25, 2025: Veteran journalists and rights activists urge authorities to quash the fabricated drug case against Matiullah Jan, calling it an attack on media freedom.
October 24, 2025: PTV journalist Najam Wali Khan faces social media backlash after calling late SP Adeel Akbar a coward and a fool following his alleged suicide in Islamabad.
October 31, 2025 Radio Free Asia, a US government-funded broadcaster covering tightly controlled Asian media environments, has suspended all news operations after federal funding dried up.
October 30, 2025 PSL franchise fees lag far behind IPL's USD 18.5B valuation as Pakistan Cricket Board's bureaucratic grip stifles growth. Hard numbers expose a stark reality.
October 30, 2025 India’s government has proposed strict new rules mandating the labelling of AI-generated and deepfake media to curb misinformation and ensure content authenticity on social platforms.
October 30, 2025 Vietnamese authorities seize BBC journalist’s passport amid interrogation, sparking outrage as Hanoi leader To Lam visits the UK. Rights groups urge her release.
October 30, 2025 CDEPS and CPJ condemn the arrest of 7TV’s Maimouna Ndour Faye and other journalists in a late October crackdown on Senegalese media over interviews with a wanted politician.