The Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) has called on media organizations to bridge gender gaps in leadership and news representation to strengthen accountability and transparency in journalism.
This call was made in a statement by the centre’s Executive Director, Motunrayo Alaka, on Saturday in Kaduna, as part of activities marking International Women’s Day 2025, themed “For ALL Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment.”
Alaka highlighted findings from WSCIJ’s report, “Who Leads the Newsrooms and the News Report,” which revealed significant gender disparities in media leadership and content representation.
“Across 111 surveyed media organizations, women hold just 25.7% of leadership positions, while men dominate at 74.3%.
The gap is even wider in print and online media, where female leadership representation is as low as 4.6% and 5.5%, respectively,” she stated.
She further noted that this leadership imbalance affects the framing and coverage of news stories.
“Women feature in only 7.1% of news stories and make up 12.1% of expert sources, limiting their voices in policymaking, governance, and social change,” she added.
WSCIJ’s Efforts to Bridge the Gender Gap
To address these disparities, WSCIJ has launched several initiatives, including the House-to-House campaign under its Report Women! programme, aimed at engaging media organizations on gender inclusivity.
The centre has also collaborated with the News Agency of Nigeria and other media platforms to strengthen accountability journalism in newsrooms.
Since its inception in 2014, the Report Women! programme has:
- Trained 537 journalists across Nigeria and Ghana.
- Produced 86 fellows under the Female Reporters Leadership Programme (FRLP).
- Supported 138 newsroom leadership projects focused on women and girls.
- Published 136 investigative stories on gender-related issues.
- Recognized 17 outstanding female journalists.
- Produced six documentaries and eight media monitoring reports.
- Conducted five research studies on gender representation in media.
One of the programme’s key research reports, “Missing Data, Missing Justice,” provides empirical evidence on how the media reports cases of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and tracks their progress through the justice system.
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As part of its 10th-anniversary celebration in October 2024, WSCIJ launched the Report Women! Experts’ Source Guide—a database of over 500 female experts across eight sectors—to help journalists incorporate diverse female perspectives in their reporting.
Call to Action for Gender-Inclusive Journalism
Alaka emphasized that International Women’s Day 2025 should serve as a call to action for media owners, publishers, journalists, policymakers, and stakeholders to push for structural changes in newsrooms.
“Achieving accountability journalism requires gender equality in both newsroom leadership and media representation.
Media organizations must adopt intentional strategies to promote gender balance, including fair hiring, leadership advancement, and creating inclusive, bias-free workplaces.”
She also stressed the need for increased visibility of women in news coverage as experts and subjects while encouraging training, mentorship, and leadership development for female journalists.
“At WSCIJ, we remain steadfast in our mission to champion accountability journalism, which includes ensuring gender equity in both the practice and content of journalism.
It is time to accelerate actions that create newsrooms that foster systemic equality for women and girls,” she concluded.
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