Chapter 8: Reports on Women’s Issues

GIJN has put together a collection of recent reports on women’s issues.

• Nine Lessons for Rethinking How You Report on Domestic Violence (Center for Health Journalism)

• The Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji) provides an overview of violence against women journalists and gender-based attacks on communicators in Brazil in 2021.

• Sexual Harassment: New Research Reveals The Scale Of The Problem In African Newsrooms – And It’s Disturbing. A report by WAN-IFRA’s Women in News.
• Diversity in Latin American Journalism is an e-book published by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas and is a reflection of 16 journalists from seven countries on how to make newsrooms and news coverage more inclusive. The authors are leaders in promoting diversity within newsrooms, and some have launched digital native media outlets for and by more diverse audiences. (Spanish only)
• Sexual Harassment in the Media: 2020-2021 Research. This report is by WAN-IFRA Women in News in partnership with City University, London.
• Unsafe Anywhere: Report on Women Human Rights Defenders Targeted with Pegasus in Bahrain and Jordan, published by Frontline Defenders and Access Now.
• Missing Perspective of Women in News is a report on “women’s under-representation in news media; on their continual marginalization in news coverage, and on the under-reported issue of gender inequality.”
• Gender Balance Guide for Media is an interactive tool for media organizations that seek to educate their staff on gender balance.
• “Our Women on the Ground: Essays by Arab Women Reporting from the Arab World.” Nineteen Arab women journalists speak out about what it’s like to report on their changing homelands in this first-of-a-kind anthology edited by Zahra Hankir.
• Tips for Investigating Hate Crimes and Violence When Government Data Sources Fail. An account of one reporter’s open-source creation of a database to track hate crimes and violence against women in India.
• From Outrage to Opportunity. How to Include the Missing Perspectives of Women of All Colors in News Leadership and Coverage (Internews)
• Gender Equality in Media and Media Content (in French – CFI Development Media) 
• Women Journalists: Their Situation in the Americas (in Spanish here – Inter-American Commission on Human Rights)
• A Guide to the Words We Use in Our Gender Coverage (The Lily/The Washington Post)
• How to Combat Gendered Online Violence Against Journalists (UNESCO) 
• “Lighting the Way: a Report for Philanthropy on the Power & Promise of Feminist Movements” (Shake the Table)
• Barriers to Women Journalists in Rwanda (African Women in Media).
• Female Investigative Journalists: Overcoming Threats, Intimidation, and Violence with Gendered Strategies (Department of Journalism and Media Studies, OsloMet University, Norway)
• Silence and Omissions: A Media Guide for Covering Gender-Based Violence (JiG – Journalism Initiative on Gender-Based Violence)
• White Paper on Feminist Internet Research (APC – Association for Progressive Communications)
• Equally Safe: Towards a Feminist Approach to the Safety of Journalists. Offers new research, case studies from six countries, practical guidelines, and advocacy tools. (Article 19)

Diversity

• ‘Culture of Exclusion’ Keeps Women of Color from Top Media Jobs (The Guardian)
• How the BBC’s 50:50 Project is Shifting Representation in Media (IJNet)
• In Addition to Representation, it is Necessary to Increase Sensitivity in Newsrooms, says Gina Chua (LatAm Journalism Review)
• Inside the BBC Staff Exodus: Women of Color Are ‘Exhausted’ From Fighting a Broken System (Variety)

Tips & Tools

• Best Practices for Journalists Covering Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (GIJN)
• Mainstreaming Women’s Voices in African Investigative Reporting (GIJN)
• A Guide to Protecting Newsrooms and Journalists Against Online Violence (IWMF)
• 10 Tips for Founding a Successful Investigative Startup, from Pulitzer-prize winner Alejandra Xanic (GIJN)
• Taking Care with Source Security When Reporting on Abortion (OpenNews)
• The New York Times Reporters Who Broke the Harvey Weinstein Story Share Advice for Student Journalists (Poynter)
• How One Publication is Fighting the Erasure of Women’s Contributions in Nigeria (IJNet)
• Behind the Story: How Molly Hensley-Clancy Investigated Abuse in Women’s Soccer (The Washington Post)