August 17, 2026
By Xari Jalil
ISLAMABAD
Women’s participation in Pakistan’s digital newsrooms has increased over the past two decades, but they remain significantly underrepresented in senior editorial, managerial and technical positions, while concerns over pay equity, recruitment transparency, workplace protections and harassment mechanisms continue to persist, according to a new gender audit of media houses.
The study, undertaken by the IRADA Foundation for Research and Advocacy, examined gender dynamics across 16 digital newsrooms in Pakistan. It surveyed 55 journalists and media professionals — 48 women, six men and one respondent who did not disclose their gender — and supplemented the survey with interviews with five senior women journalists and media professionals.
The report concludes that simply increasing the number of women working in journalism has not translated into equal influence over newsroom decision-making. Women remain concentrated particularly in reporting and mid-level editorial positions, while their presence at the highest levels of newsroom hierarchies remains limited.
Women absent from top editorial roles
The audit has found that women’s representation varies sharply according to the type of work they perform. While 39 of the 55 respondents said women were present in editorial positions, 16 said their organisations had no women in such roles. The report cautions, however, that women’s presence in editorial jobs does not necessarily mean they have proportional influence over editorial decision-making.
The gender gap is particularly pronounced in technical and IT-related positions. Forty-two (42) respondents said women were not present in technical roles in their organisations, while only 13 reported women working in such positions.
Women also remain relatively scarce among frontline reporters in many organisations. Seventeen (17) respondents said their organisations had only two or three female reporters, while 13 said there were fewer than two. Only one respondent reported an organisation with between 10 and 20 female reporters.
The report’s interviews suggest that women have become increasingly visible in journalism, particularly in digital media, but visibility has not necessarily translated into authority. Interviewees said men continue to dominate positions such as bureau chiefs, news directors and senior editors, which carry greater influence over editorial agendas.
The audit also identified differences between newsroom functions and geographic locations. Women have historically had greater representation in magazine journalism, features and desk-based editorial work, while field reporting and traditionally male-dominated “hard” beats have seen lower female participation.
Interviewees attributed part of this pattern to assumptions about women’s mobility, safety and ability to work irregular hours. At the same time, the report found evidence of change, with younger women increasingly reporting on politics, court proceedings and public affairs.
Informal hiring a major concern
One of the clearest findings concerns how journalists obtain their jobs. Thirty-two (32) respondents said they obtained their current positions through recommendations or professional networks, compared with 19 who advanced through internal promotion. Only two respondents said they obtained their current position through an open advertisement, while two cited other routes.
The report says the heavy reliance on networks raises questions about equal access to employment, because professional networks can reproduce existing power structures and disadvantage people who are outside established circles.
At the same time, 41 respondents considered recruitment processes at their organisations gender-neutral. Seven described them as only somewhat gender-neutral, four said they were not gender-neutral and three said they did not know.
The report warns that perceptions of gender neutrality should not automatically be equated with structural fairness. It argues that informal recruitment can disadvantage women and others who lack access to established professional networks, even where those already employed perceive the system as fair.
Promotion practices produced similarly mixed results. Fifteen (15) respondents agreed and 14 strongly agreed that men and women have equal chances of promotion, but 20 gave a neutral response. Four disagreed and two strongly disagreed.
The large number of neutral responses, according to the audit, points to uncertainty or a lack of information about how promotion decisions are made.
Stereotypes over beats
The audit found that women are increasingly working across both traditionally “hard” and “soft” beats, although gender stereotypes have not disappeared.
Thirty-eight (38) respondents said women have equal access to high-profile beats. Eight said this was true only sometimes, while six said women did not have equal access and three did not know.
Meanwhile, 12 respondents said certain beats were informally considered more suitable for women. Twenty-six (26) said no such categorisation existed, while 17 did not know.
Among the women respondents, 47% reported covering social and gender issues, 44% politics and governance, 35% desk research or production, 27% investigative reporting and 25% crime and courts. Sixteen percent reported covering business and economy, while the same proportion worked in fashion or pop culture.
The report says women’s presence in politics, crime and investigative reporting indicates an expansion of their professional roles, but their particularly high representation in social and gender issues suggests that traditional assumptions about “appropriate” beats for women continue to influence newsroom practices.
Pay equity remains uncertain
The audit found a near-even split among respondents when asked whether men and women in similar positions receive equal pay.
Twenty-five (25) respondents said they did receive equal pay, while 21 said men and women did not receive equal pay. Another nine said they did not know.
The report describes the responses as evidence not only of possible gender disparities but also of a lack of salary transparency that makes it difficult for journalists to determine whether they are being treated fairly.
On salary-setting transparency, 35 respondents said compensation decisions were transparent, while 20 disagreed. Six respondents said they felt they were underpaid because of their gender, 35 said they did not, while 14 preferred not to answer.
Interviews conducted for the study pointed to cases in which male journalists with comparable or lower levels of experience were believed to have received higher salaries or additional benefits than female colleagues. The interviewees acknowledged, however, that such disparities are difficult to verify because salary information is generally confidential.
The report also places gender pay concerns within the wider financial crisis affecting Pakistan’s news industry, including low salaries, delayed payments, budget constraints, layoffs and job insecurity. It notes that these pressures affect journalists across genders while also making it harder for media organisations to establish standardised salary and benefit structures.
Leave and workplace support remain uneven
The audit found significant gaps in leave policies and gender-responsive workplace facilities.
Thirty-four (34) respondents said they were aware of a written policy governing leave and employee benefits, while 10 said their organisations did not have such a policy and 11 were only partially aware of its existence or contents.
The findings on gender-responsive benefits were particularly stark. Only 23 respondents said their organisations provided paid maternity leave, while just nine reported paid paternity leave.
For menstrual needs, 29 respondents said their organisations offered neither menstrual leave nor work-from-home flexibility during menstruation. Thirteen (13) reported access to remote work and only three reported menstrual leave, while 10 said their organisations provided both options.
The report also found that basic women-specific facilities were inconsistent. Thirty-seven (37) respondents reported separate toilets for women, 27 reported separate prayer areas and 14 reported a designated rest area. Only five reported daycare facilities for working mothers, while eight said none of the listed women-specific facilities were available.
Although flexible working arrangements were available in many newsrooms, their use was not uniform. Thirty-nine (39) respondents said flexible arrangements were used equally by men and women, while seven said they were used mostly by women, seven said nobody used them and two said they were mostly used by men.
Taking leaves can sometimes carry career consequences. Twenty-three (23) respondents said taking leave did not negatively affect career progression, but 19 said it sometimes did and five said it always did. Eight did not know.
Harassment policies exist only on paper
The report found that formal anti-harassment policies are relatively widespread, but awareness, visibility and institutional mechanisms for enforcing them remain major weaknesses.
Forty-one (41) respondents said their organisations had an anti-harassment policy, while four said they did not and 10 did not know whether one existed.
However, only 25 respondents said the policy was prominently displayed at their workplace. Twenty (20) said it was not displayed at all and 10 did not know whether it was displayed.
The audit says this creates a significant gap between having a policy and ensuring employees can actually access and use it.
The situation was even more concerning regarding harassment inquiry committees. Only 27 respondents said their organisation had such a committee, while 12 said there was no committee and 16 did not know whether one existed. Only 22 respondents said their organisation’s committee included at least one woman. Twelve (12) said there was no woman on the committee, while 21 did not know.
The audit found that awareness of reporting mechanisms was comparatively stronger: 40 respondents said they knew how to report workplace sexual harassment, while 15 did not.
But the report cautions that this still leaves more than a quarter of respondents without knowledge of how to report harassment. Only two respondents said they had experienced or witnessed sexual harassment at work, while 48 said they had not and five preferred not to answer. The report says the five non-responses are significant because fear of retaliation, job loss, stigma and lack of confidence in grievance mechanisms can discourage victims from speaking about harassment.
Fear of retaliation itself emerged as a concern: 20 respondents agreed or strongly agreed that it discourages reporting, while 12 were neutral. The report argues that confidential reporting systems and effective safeguards against retaliation are therefore essential.
Interviews reinforced these concerns, with senior journalists saying that the existence of formal policies does not necessarily guarantee effective redress. The effectiveness of inquiry committees was described as dependent on management support, independence, transparency and employees’ confidence that complaints would be treated fairly.
Surveillance raises concerns for female staff
The study also examined workplace surveillance.
Thirty-four (34) respondents said their organisations used cameras to monitor employee presence, while 18 said they did not and three did not know.
Notably, 18% of respondents — all women — said the presence of cameras made them uncomfortable. The report argues that news organisations should consult female employees and consider privacy and comfort when introducing surveillance systems.
Report calls for structural reforms
The audit recommends that digital news organisations move beyond policies on paper and introduce measurable reforms.
Among its recommendations are increasing women’s presence in senior editorial and management positions, setting internal targets for women’s participation in leadership, and establishing mentorship and leadership programmes for early- and mid-career women journalists.
It also calls for vacancies to be publicly advertised rather than filled primarily through informal networks, alongside transparent criteria for recruitment, performance evaluation and promotion.
The report further recommends allocating reporting assignments according to professional expertise rather than gender assumptions, encouraging women to enter traditionally male-dominated beats such as politics, crime and investigative journalism, and providing safety training and logistical support for female field reporters.
It calls for full compliance with Pakistan’s anti-harassment law, functional and independent inquiry committees, prominently displayed anti-harassment policies, confidential reporting mechanisms and regular gender-sensitivity training.
The audit also recommends childcare support, designated spaces for nursing mothers, flexible work arrangements, transparent and gender-neutral salary structures, periodic pay reviews and training on gender-sensitive reporting and workplace equity.
Financial instability complicates gender reform
The report stresses that gender inequality in journalism cannot be separated from the wider economic problems facing Pakistan’s media industry.
It identifies financial instability, delayed salaries, job insecurity and retrenchments as factors that can push gender-sensitive workplace reforms down the list of organisational priorities.
The report therefore calls not only for newsroom-level reforms but also for broader efforts to strengthen the financial sustainability and institutional stability of the news media sector.
Its overall conclusion is that women’s participation in digital journalism has expanded, but progress remains uneven. Women are still disproportionately absent from technical positions and senior editorial leadership and are more likely to be found in features, desk-based editorial work and socially oriented beats than in high-profile political and crime reporting.
Crucially, the study finds that news organisations with women in leadership positions tend to demonstrate better gender-sensitive working conditions and more inclusive workplace cultures, making the gender gap in leadership not simply a question of representation but one that affects institutional priorities, workplace policies and women’s career progression.
The audit concludes that meaningful change will require cooperation among media organisations, press clubs, journalists’ unions, policymakers and media development organisations, alongside stronger recruitment and promotion systems, harassment safeguards and gender-responsive workplace policies.
The study’s findings are based on selected digital news organisations and self-reported responses. The report itself notes limitations, including limited access to internal payroll and HR records and underrepresentation of Balochistan, meaning the findings should be read as patterns observed among the participating organisations rather than a comprehensive picture of every newsroom in Pakistan.