WSCIJ Calls for More Women in Newsrooms, Highlights Gender Imbalance in Media
WSCIJ Calls for More Women in Newsrooms, Highlights Gender Imbalance in Media
The Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) has called for greater female representation in newsroom leadership, revealing that women hold only 25.7% of leadership positions in media organizations across Nigeria.
In a statement marking the 2025 International Women’s Day, WSCIJ’s Executive Director, Motunrayo Alaka, highlighted that women occupy just 4.6% of leadership roles in newspapers and 5.5% in online media. She further emphasized that women feature in only 7.1% of news content and make up a mere 12.1% of expert sources, limiting their influence in governance and policymaking.
“As the world marks International Women’s Day 2025 on March 8, with the theme ‘For ALL Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment,’ the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism reaffirms its commitment to gender-inclusive newsrooms as a pillar of accountability journalism.
“We call on media organizations to bridge gender gaps in leadership and news representation, ensuring a diverse and equitable media landscape.
“Findings from WSCIJ’s ‘Who Leads the Newsrooms and the News?’ report highlight significant disparities. Across 111 surveyed media organizations, women hold 25.7% of leadership positions, while men dominate at 74.3%.
“The imbalance is even wider in print and online media, where female leadership representation is only 4.6% and 5.5%, respectively.
“This leadership gap influences whose stories are told and how they are framed. In addition to leadership, women remain underrepresented in news content. They feature in just 7.1% of news stories and make up 12.1% of expert sources, limiting their voices in policymaking, governance, and social change,” she said.
To tackle these disparities, WSCIJ has partnered with leading media houses such as The Nation, Premium Times, Daily Trust, Vanguard, Channels Television, TVC News, and others through its Report Women! Programme.
“Since its launch 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 and conducted five research reports on gender representation in the media.
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“One such research report, ‘Missing Data, Missing Justice,’ provides empirical evidence on how sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) cases are reported by the media, tracing their progression through the justice system.
“To further address the injustices, WSCIJ launched the ‘Report Women! Experts’ Source Guide’ as part of its 10th anniversary in October 2024—a database of over 500 female experts across eight sectors, including Agriculture, Business & Economy, Education, Health & Science, Law & Human Rights, Politics & Governance, Media, and Security. This initiative ensures journalists have access to diverse female perspectives. WSCIJ seeks to expand this database and encourage more female experts to participate.”
With these initiatives, WSCIJ aims to close the gender gap in media leadership and content, fostering a more inclusive and representative media landscape in Nigeria.
