On International Women’s Day, Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) calls for the urgent need to address gendered attacks faced by women in the media. Irrespective of gender, journalists in Pakistan work under a restrictive environment marred by red lines, threats of and acts of violence. However, women media professionals face uniquely personal attacks that are focused on their character assassination. This is a particular challenge in digital spaces. 

To address the challenges faced by women in the media, different stakeholder groups must understand the nature of attacks faced by women journalists, develop policies to counter attacks and ensure that women themselves have buy-in in the process.

Recently, the threat of AI-generated attacks, particularly against women, is of grave concern and must be advocated against through engagements with big tech and more clarity and accountability on reporting such posts. In November 2025, an AI-generated video targeted and harassed a woman journalist, Benazir Shah, focused on her character assassination.

Unless effective countermeasures are taken, such videos and manipulated footage are likely to become increasingly common in the world of AI, where such edits can be done almost seamlessly. 

Digital threats include threats to women in the media which in 2025 included instances of threats to senior female journalist Asma Shirazi and Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) co-chair and anchorperson at Aaj TV, Munizae Jahangir. 

In a statement issued in January 2025, the Network of Women Journalists for Digital Rights (NWJDR) condemned the “ongoing relentless harassment and gendered disinformation campaign” against senior female journalist Asma Shirazi. As per the statement, the campaign was being led by “prominent political party supporters, political commentators, and vloggers.” 

In February 2025, another female journalist, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) co-chair and anchorperson at Aaj TV, Munizae Jahangir, received threats online.

Earlier this month, ABN News anchorperson Alina Shigri shared a screenshot on X of a user abusing her.

The instances of digital attacks and threats to women journalists have become a common way of targeting them. While some of these instances are reported, PPF believes that the extent of such attacks is underrepresented due to how commonplace they have unfortunately become. 

Meanwhile, women media professionals in the field and in physical spaces also face attacks. On January 11 in Karachi, an Aaj News team was attacked during clashes between Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supporters and police ahead of a planned PTI rally. Female reporter Hamna Nisar was amongst the team members attacked.

Recounting her experience, Nisar had told PPF that this was her first experience of such violence and that she struggled to comprehend how to respond.

Most recently, during protests which erupted on March 1 across cities of Pakistan following the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Samaa TV broadcast journalist Kiran Naz took to X to share footage of her car sunroof damaged.

According to the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) 2025 findings released by the Uks Research Centre, women’s presence in Pakistan’s news media declined in 2025, with women reporters accounting for only four per cent of the total, down from 16 per cent in 2020. These are alarming statistics. The root causes that result in such an unequal gender balance in the media must be addressed.

In 2025, however, some progress in representation of women in the media has also been documented. 

In a historic first, two women journalists were elected to the top leadership positions of the Gilgit Union of Journalists (GUJ). Kiran Qasim and Shereen Karim, both journalists from Gilgit Baltistan who have previously completed PPF’s fellowships, were elected as the first-ever female president (Qasim) and vice president (Karim) for the GUJ. Their victory marks a defining milestone for women’s leadership, inclusion, and participation in the media, setting an example for other media bodies in Pakistan to follow.

On this International Women’s Day, PPF reiterates calls for the following actions to ensure the safety, representation, and empowerment of women in media:  

• Special attention should be given to the safety of women journalists, who face disproportionate online abuse, gender-based threats, and character assassination. Authorities must investigate and prosecute all cases of harassment, assault, and online abuse against women journalists similar to incidents of violence against all journalists and media professionals that remain largely uninvestigated, perpetuating high rates of impunity for crimes against journalists.
• The threat of AI-generated attacks, particularly against women, is of grave concern and must be advocated against through engagements with big tech and more clarity and accountability on reporting such posts. Unless effective countermeasures are taken, such videos and manipulated footage are likely to become increasingly common in the world of AI, where such edits can be done almost seamlessly.
• Laws passed for the protection of women in the workplace and the safety of journalists and media professionals must be implemented to ensure that a safe work environment for women in the media can be created.
• The Sindh Protection of Journalists and Other Media Practitioners Act, 2021 and the federal-level Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Act, 2021 guarantee protection against harassment. The Sindh-level law goes a step further by differentiating between broader harassment and sexual harassment, which defines sexual harassment as defined in the Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010. These laws should provide a legal avenue for protection against harassment within the workplace through effective implementation. They must be implemented.
• Media organizations must pay attention and establish active gender harassment committees as required under the Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act. 
• PPF urges media houses to adopt and enforce comprehensive safety protocols to protect female journalists online and offline. Media organizations must foster environments that actively ensure the safety and dignity of all journalists, particularly women, through training, support mechanisms, and clear anti-harassment policies.
• Political parties must enforce a code of conduct for engaging with media professionals during rallies, protests, and other physical party-related events and online to prevent violence against journalists. Leadership must reiterate such policies and ensure that supporters do not initiate violence against the media.
• Media organizations must actively promote women to leadership positions and ensure their participation in editorial and decision-making processes. Positive developments that have been achieved including representation of women in journalists’ unions must be commended and encouraged to become the norm.