September 21, 2026
By Alishba Asif
MULTAN
When Suheera Tariq, resident of Multan leaves home to cover a story, her assignment is only one part of what occupies her mind.
She also wonders how she will be ‘received’ in the field; whether the officials she meets or the local communities she needs to interact with, will give her access to information, or their lives and even the impact of her report when it is floated on social media.
After nearly nine years in journalism, Suheera has learned that being a woman reporter in a less developed region like South Punjab often means navigating challenges that have little to do with the story itself. Gender bias, unprofessional behaviour, restricted access to information and the constant pressure to prove her credibility are all what she has to face all the time.
“An old newsroom perception still lingers,” she says. “Women are considered more suitable for “soft” beats, while men are often preferred for politics, crime, sensitive assignments and high-risk reporting.”
But for Suheera, the problem is not simply about which stories women are allowed to cover. It is about the assumptions made about their abilities before they are even given the opportunity to demonstrate them.
During field assignments, she says, she has encountered unnecessary questioning, inappropriate behaviour and situations where she felt compelled to establish her competence simply because she was a woman.
In rural areas, the barriers can become even more pronounced.There are occasions, she says, when people object to the presence of a female journalist altogether, making access to sources and information considerably more difficult. And when access is restricted, journalism suffers too.
Suheera recalls situations where victims or local residents have been reluctant to speak openly with her just because she was a woman. Obviously when people refuse to share information or limit access to important details, the final story is affected. For a reporter, gender can therefore become an invisible barrier between the story and the public that needs to hear it.
When the beat is determined by gender
Suheera’s experience is far from unique. Bisma Qadeer, who has around four years of experience in journalism and currently works as a reporter at 92 News Multan, says women journalists are still sometimes directed towards softer beats instead of politics, crime or other demanding areas of reporting.
However Bisma has herself worked on the crime beat. For her, the central question is not whether women can handle difficult assignments, but whether newsrooms are willing to give them the opportunity to prove themselves. Keeping a woman away from a challenging beat simply because of her gender, she argues, has no professional justification. With appropriate institutional support, training and a conducive working environment, women can perform demanding reporting assignments just as effectively as their male colleagues. Yet social attitudes and editorial decisions can still determine who gets access to which beat.
Ehthesham Mirza, President of the Multan Union of Journalists (MUJ), who has nearly 25 years of experience in journalism, acknowledges that this mindset remains a concern.
“Women journalists”, he says. “Should not automatically be confined to lifestyle, culture, education or other traditionally “soft” areas. Political, judicial, crime and investigative reporting should be available to women on the basis of their interest, training, ability and professional competence. Beat selection should be based on a journalist’s capability and professional competence rather than gender.”
His argument is simple. If an assignment carries risks, the answer should be better safety measures, not fewer opportunities for women.
Risk assessments, safety training, protective arrangements and institutional support should be available to every journalist working in a potentially dangerous environment. That distinction is crucial.
When women are repeatedly excluded from difficult assignments in the name of safety, they lose more than individual stories – they lose the experience, visibility and professional exposure that can later determine who gets promoted, who is trusted with major assignments and who eventually enters leadership.
When safety becomes a professional barrier
The conflict between safety and opportunity becomes particularly visible during protests, emergencies, crime coverage and other volatile situations.
Suheera says female reporters may sometimes be advised to step back from such assignments because of security concerns, while male colleagues continue reporting from the field. Bisma agrees that safety concerns are real. There are situations, she says, where a female reporter may genuinely feel unsafe, and personal security must always remain a priority. But safety, Mirza argues, should not become a blanket justification for restricting women’s professional growth.
If an assignment is dangerous, the risk does not automatically disappear simply because the journalist is male. Instead, media organisations should assess the risks and provide appropriate security arrangements.
Mirza says that the responsibility of an institution is to protect journalists—not to decide that women should be kept away from certain areas of journalism.
For women reporters, that difference can influence the direction of an entire career.
The door to leadership
In regions that have less exposure to women working in such fields, women journalists have it tougher. For them entering journalism is one challenge, but moving upwards is another. But times are changing and across South Punjab, women have increasingly taken on reporting, production and digital media roles. Still, reaching positions where editorial decisions are made remains considerably harder.
Hamna, who has worked as a producer in South Punjab, says her career has included experiences of salary inequality, limited professional opportunities, programmes being withdrawn unexpectedly and situations where her leadership abilities were questioned because she was a woman. Her experience raises a broader question: What happens to the women after they enter the media industry? Are they given a genuine pathway towards leadership, or are they expected to remain in supporting roles?
Ehtisham Mirza believes the issue deserves serious attention. He says experience alone may not determine promotion, but experience, competence and performance must be central to any fair evaluation.
If women continue working for years, develop expertise and demonstrate their abilities, yet remain excluded from leadership while less-experienced men move ahead, media organisations need to examine whether opportunities are genuinely equal.
He cautions, however, against automatically describing every individual case as gender discrimination.
But when similar patterns repeatedly emerge across workplaces, he says, the issue moves beyond individual performance and requires institutional scrutiny. Clear promotion policies and transparent criteria, he argues, can help ensure that advancement is based on merit, performance and experience rather than gender.
For women journalists, leadership is about much more than a designation.
It means having a voice where assignments are allocated, salaries are negotiated, programmes are planned and editorial priorities are determined.
The unequal pay question
The inequality does not end with assignments and promotions; sometimes, it reaches the payslip. Bisma says she has personally experienced differences in remuneration, with some male journalists working alongside her receiving higher salaries despite having similar professional responsibilities.
She believes compensation should reflect a journalist’s workload, experience, skills and responsibilities—not gender.
She also feels that male journalists may sometimes find it easier to negotiate salaries and benefits, while women have to wait longer for their concerns to be addressed.
Mirza agrees that equal pay for equal work should be a fundamental principle.
But there is another obstacle: a lack of transparency. Salary structures across Pakistan’s media sector are often unclear, making it difficult to determine the scale of the gender pay gap with reliable evidence.
Without documented data, individual complaints can remain isolated experiences rather than becoming part of a recognised pattern.
He believes journalists’ unions and professional bodies need to approach the issue more systematically.
Women who believe they are facing discrimination, he says, should have access to confidential complaint mechanisms and union support. Better data collection could also help identify recurring disparities and provide evidence when concerns are raised with media organisations or relevant institutions.
The problem, therefore, is not simply unequal pay. It is also the opacity surrounding salaries that can make inequality difficult to identify, document and challenge.
The pressure inside the newsroom
For women working behind the camera or inside the newsroom, the pressure can take a different shape. Hamna says heavy workloads, pressure to generate views, finding guests and the expectation to consistently deliver high-quality programmes have contributed to significant mental strain and disrupted sleep during her career. For her, professional pressure cannot be separated entirely from gender-related challenges.
When opportunities for leadership are limited, professional abilities are questioned and workloads remain demanding, the newsroom can gradually become a source of sustained psychological pressure.
This raises another question: do media organisations treat mental well-being as part of workplace safety? Journalism is already a high-pressure profession, driven by deadlines, breaking news and constant competition. When field risks, workplace inequality and digital harassment are added to that burden, the distinction between professional stress and personal life can begin to disappear.
The risk continues online
For women journalists, leaving the newsroom does not necessarily mean leaving the risks behind.
Social media has given reporters a direct connection with audiences, but it has also created new avenues for harassment, intimidation and reputational attacks.According to information provided by the Digital Rights Foundation (DRF), women journalists face online harassment, character assassination, hate campaigns, fake accounts, hacking, exposure of personal information, impersonation and manipulated or AI-generated content.
DRF’s Digital Security Helpline assists affected women journalists with issues including account recovery, harmful content and fake accounts, legal assistance and complaints to relevant authorities.
According to Hira Basit, Lead of the Digital Security Helpline, DRF assisted 93 women journalists between January 2024 and May 2026 in cases involving different forms of digital security threats and online harassment.The complaints included account hacking, image-based abuse, non-consensual distribution of private images or videos, generative-AI content, sextortion, social engineering and impersonation.
These cases demonstrate how online harassment has evolved beyond abusive comments.A hacked account can cut a journalist off from professional networks. A fake profile can undermine credibility. The misuse of personal images can threaten privacy and safety.And AI-generated material adds another layer of complexity, making fabricated content increasingly convincing and difficult to challenge.
When the screen follows you home
Perhaps the most troubling aspect of digital harassment is that its consequences rarely remain confined to the internet.
Persistent attacks, threats, character assassination and gender-based abuse can affect confidence, sleep, emotional well-being and professional performance.
Bisma, who is active on social media as a journalist and content creator, says criticism directed at women journalists can sometimes move beyond professional disagreement and become personal.She tries not to allow such attacks to interfere with her work.
But repeated exposure to gendered criticism can still take an emotional toll.For women already dealing with field pressures and newsroom inequalities, online abuse can become yet another source of stress—one that follows them home after working hours.
This is why journalist safety can no longer be defined only by physical security.
Digital protection and mental well-being are equally important components of a safe working environment.
Who is responsible for protecting women journalists?
The experiences of women journalists in South Punjab point towards a larger institutional question: Who is responsible for creating a safer and more equitable profession?
An anti-harassment policy sitting on paper is not enough.
Mirza says journalists’ unions have a responsibility to raise the concerns of all journalists while paying particular attention to challenges faced by women.Unions, he says, can establish dedicated consultations, confidential complaint mechanisms, professional training and mentorship programmes for women journalists.They can also serve as a bridge between reporters and media management, taking up concerns related to promotions, assignments, workplace facilities and harassment.
At the local level, he believes there should be a permanent and trustworthy forum where women journalists can discuss professional problems without fear of retaliation or embarrassment.
Senior journalists can also contribute by mentoring younger women and helping them strengthen their reporting, leadership and professional skills.For South Punjab, such mechanisms could provide women journalists with something they often lack: a safe and credible space to raise workplace concerns before those difficulties push them out of the profession.
Reforms that could change the workplace
When asked what immediate reforms are required, Mirza identifies three key priorities. The first is transparent promotion and leadership policies. Media organisations should establish clear, written and merit-based criteria for promotions and senior positions so that both men and women have a fair opportunity to advance.
The second is equal pay and salary transparency. Journalists performing comparable work with similar responsibilities should receive fair compensation. Transparent salary structures could also make discriminatory practices easier to identify and address.
The third is equal assignments and a safer workplace. Women journalists should have access to political, judicial, crime and investigative reporting, while organisations should provide the training, security arrangements and protocols required to keep reporters safe.
The message to media owners and editors is straightforward:Women should not be viewed merely as part of today’s workforce. They should also be recognised as the future leaders of journalism.
Beyond a safe newsroom
The struggle of women journalists in South Punjab is not merely a women’s issue.It is an issue of journalism itself.
When a woman journalist has to think about her gender before entering a sensitive area, questioning a powerful person, interviewing a victim or publishing a critical report, the consequences extend beyond her individual career.They can shape the information that reaches the public.
If women are excluded from certain beats, some stories may never be approached from their perspective.If experienced women are denied leadership opportunities, newsrooms lose valuable voices at the decision-making table.If unequal pay pushes trained journalists out of the profession, media organisations lose institutional knowledge and experience.And when online harassment or sustained psychological pressure forces women away from public-facing journalism, society loses another perspective from the media landscape.
Equality, therefore, is not about giving women preferential treatment.It is about dismantling barriers that should never have determined who gets to report, who gets promoted, who gets paid fairly and who gets heard.
Bisma believes women journalists in South Punjab need a safe working environment, equal access to important beats, meaningful professional opportunities and fair compensation for their work.
Suheera’s experience demonstrates why those demands matter. Hamna’s experience illustrates what can happen when workplace pressure and limited opportunities continue unchecked.
Mirza’s recommendations point towards institutional reforms that could begin addressing these challenges.
The goal should not simply be to bring more women into journalism.It should be to create a profession where women can enter, stay, grow, lead and report freely—without their gender becoming a limitation on their safety, credibility or career.Because the real question is not whether women are present in journalism.The real question is whether they have an equal chance to shape it.
Alishba Asif is a Multan-based journalist with eight years of experience in electronic media and journalism across South Punjab.