Women make up half of humanity, yet they account for only a quarter of the news, warns a new report from the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP), supported by UN Women.
According to the latest edition of the world’s largest and longest-running study on gender representation in the media, women appear in just 26% of all television, radio, and print news across the globe—whether as subjects or as sources of stories. This statistic has only improved by nine percentage points in 30 years.
For UN Women, this amounts to a “blatant absence” of women “on television, radio, and in print media” and represents a particularly critical lack of representation for young women and girls, who do not see themselves reflected in mainstream media.
“Media reflect reality—and are essential to democracy and to a just and equal world for all women and girls. But when women are absent, democracy is incomplete,” stressed UN Women Deputy Executive Director Kirsi Madi.
“Women and girls deserve to see themselves represented in the media and to have their stories told,” she added.
This underrepresentation has a direct impact on content, according to the UN agency.
Gender-based violence rarely makes headlines, even though it affects half of humanity. Fewer than 2 in 100 articles mention it. And only 2 in 100 articles challenge stereotypes, showing that media remain a major obstacle to equality by perpetuating bias, the study states.
Also the study mentions the progress made as it notes that 41% of journalists today are women, compared to 28% in 1995. Their articles systematically feature more female subjects (29% compared to 24%), demonstrating that parity in newsrooms fosters fairer representation.
The study also reveals that journalism challenging gender stereotypes is now at its lowest level in the three decades of GMMP monitoring—“clear evidence that the growing global backlash against women and girls is undermining hard-won progress,” UN Women warns.
The findings of the 2025 GMMP come at a pivotal moment for gender equality, as the world enters the final five years of the Sustainable Development Goals and prepares to mark the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action for women at the UN’s 80th General Assembly.
For UN Women, the message is urgent: “Setbacks are real, progress has stalled, and accountability cannot wait.”
“In the face of today’s rollbacks on gender equality, these findings are both a wake-up call and a call to action. A radical reset is needed for media to play their part in advancing equality,” said Ms. Madi.
Responsibility now lies with governments, editors, platforms, and decision-makers to make this equality real, according to UN Women and the GMMP.
“We will not back down until women’s voices are heard in every newsroom and every story,” emphasized Kirsi Madi. “Without women’s voices, there is no complete story, no fair democracy, no lasting security, and no shared future.”
UN Women News
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