Women in Pakistan continue to remain underrepresented in news, according to the the Global Media Monitoring Project 2025.
Pakistani participated in the Global Media Monitoring Project 2025 for the fourth time, which was carried out by Uks Research Centre.
The 2025 reported documented the news landscape on May 6, 2025 a day “marked by severe military and political tensions along the Line of Control with India.” The Pakistani government was on high alert, and media coverage was dominated by conflict, national security, and official statements. This extraordinary
circumstances shaped the news content and the visibility of women across different platforms.
“On such a crisis-heavy day, the gender imbalance in news representation became even wider sharply, both in terms of who was visible and who was reporting,” the report said.
For the research, Uks studied coverage nine print newspaper, six television channels, the state-owned Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation radio channel and four news-based websites.
It found that across traditional media (print, tv, and radio) women constituted of 11% of news subjects, and
26% in internet news.
The following stats were noted in traditional media:
-60% of female representation in arts, culture, and celebrity reporting
-28% in science and health
-0 to 10% in politics, economy, crime, sports and GBV coverage.
It noted that internet news emerged as a slightly more diverse space as women were visible in politics (23%), science and health (33%), social/legal issues (33%), and remained central to all GBV stories (100%).
Women in news production
It also found that 68% of reporters were male on TV, with only 32% of women. In print, female bylines comprised 5%, while radio shows had 100% female reporting.
In TV, more than 29% of news was presented or reported by women, but the majority of these women served as anchors or presenters (96%), with only 4% of them working as field reporters. Women reporters were largely absent from producing stories about men as subjects, while men reported almost all the stories that featured women subjects.
The following stats have been reported
- 3% of news stories on ‘Politics and Government’ were reported by female reporters as
compared to 97% by male reporters. - 9% stories on ‘Economy’ were found to be reported by female reporters while male reporters
covered 91% of this topic. - Only two stories were reported by female reporters compared to 52 news items which were
reported by male reporters. One was related to ‘Politics and Government’ while the second story
was about Economy
“The coverage of gender-based violence was extremely limited. Most GBV sub-topics were absent
from news content, with only a single story recorded in traditional media, while online outlets
addressed sexual harassment and technology-facilitated violence, often also talking about broader
gender inequality and rights-based perspectives,” according to the report.
Women news subjects were disproportionately presented as spokespersons, primarily representing government officials or politicians (89%), yet rarely appeared as experts, commentators, eye-witnesses, or in roles providing personal experience.
Women’s visibility as central subjects was limited, with only 15% of news stories featuring women as the main focus.
The report mentioned that there were also other indicators of gendered portrayal that reflect inequalities and which continue to persist. “Women were identified by their family roles or status in 15% of cases, compared to only 2% of men. Female news subjects appeared as victims in 26.5% of cases, while7
men were reported as victims in 73.5%.”
Even the photographs disproportionately showed men (63.4%) over women (36.6%), and direct quotations were overwhelmingly given by men, with only 10.5% of quotes attributed to women. Overall, only 1% of the news content challenged gender stereotypes, and only 1% of stories highlighted issues of gender equality or inequality between women and men.
It does, however, note that digital and internet platforms provide small improvements in visibility, yet these spaces remain limited given the scale and reach of traditional media
In its analysis, the report says that the current report “confirms patterns that have continued to endure in Pakistani news” as woman have been “largely absent from hard-news coverage, their voices are marginal in reporting and decision-making roles, and men are heavily facilitated by newsroom practices.”
It does, however, note that digital and internet platforms provide small improvements in visibility, yet these spaces remain limited given the scale and reach of traditional media.
It does note that the day was “dominated by overwhelming national security coverage”, yet the findings show broader systemic trends. “Traditional media continues to be heavily male-dominated, women’s presence is largely confined to cultural, health, or social issues, and their role as newsmakers remains limited. At the same time, the findings point to the potential of digital platforms to create professional opportunities for women in journalism and to frame issues through a gendered and rights-based lens. This will eventually offer opportunities for improvement in the visibility and voice of women in Pakistani news.”
15% of the total news items had women subjects as central focus
The researchers have also identified three related problems for GBV reporting on that day.
- First, GBV had no space in mainstream news because the agenda was monopolised by issues of national security.
- Second, this one GBV story reported the event through a victim-centred frame without mentioning rights, policies, or how to prevent GBV.
- Third, there were limited quotes, no legal references, and the survivor did not have a voice thereby reducing the potential of the story to raise questions about gender violence.v
When compared to GMMP 2020, these figures have improved drastically, the report notes.
The ratio of women centric news stories in 2020 remained at only 5% in ‘Politics and Government’, 14% in ‘Social and Legal’ and 17% in ‘Crime and Violence’. There were no women centric stories in
‘Science and Health’ and ‘Economy’. Whereas, ‘Gender & Related’ had 87% women centric
content.
