A busy newsroom/FILE
As the world gears up for International Women's Day on March 8, a report by WAN-IFRA's shows that women now hold 24 per cent of business and editorial leadership positions, an increase from 21 per cent in 2022,.
The report revealed the number of women in overall leadership roles increased by 25 from 73 in 2022 to 98 in 2024.
According to the report, women represent 18 per cent of business leadership roles (which includes board chair, chief executive, or managing director positions), up from 13 per cent in 2022.
Women remain at 30 per cent of editorial leadership positions (which includes editor-in-chief and editorial director roles), although their absolute number rose from 52 to 60.
In 2024, 50 organisations made changes in editorial lead positions. Seven replaced a man with a woman; seven replaced a woman with a woman; and 36 replaced a man with a man.
The report highlighted that men continue to dominate leadership roles in 2024, holding 312 business and editorial leadership positions compared to 98 for women.
This means women hold just one in four of these positions.
The study focused on two key leadership roles: top business leadership, including the CEO, Chairperson and top editorial leadership, like the Editor-in-Chief, Executive Editor.
According to the report, these roles were selected to assess who holds decision-making power over both business operations and editorial content.
“We analysed media companies, rather than individual outlets, to capture the highest-ranking business and editorial leaders. Both private and state-owned media companies were included, with each company having its own management and editorial leadership structure,” the report reads in part.
Data was collected through public sources and verified by company representatives.
The media organisations were selected based on their influence within each country, taking into account audience reach, size and format, print, digital, radio, broadcast. WIN partners were included when they met these criteria.
The data collection took place in June and July 2024, and the findings reflect the leadership composition at that time. Organisational changes may have occurred since.
The report comes at a time when women across the world prepare to mark International Women's Day.
International Women's Day is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights movement.
IWD focuses on issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against women.
It is a day when women are recognized for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political.
On 19 March 1911, the first International Women’s Day was held, with more than 1 million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland taking part.
It took until 1975 for the United Nations to recognize and begin celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD).
Since then, the UN has served as the major sponsor of the yearly event, encouraging more countries to recognize acts of courage and resolve by ordinary women who have played an outstanding role in the history of their countries and communities.
The symbol for International Women’s Day is a female gender symbol. It is usually accompanied by the colors purple, green and white.
According to the International Women's Day website, purple stands for dignity and justice, green for hope, and white for purity.
The theme for 2025 is 'Accelerate Action' calls for rapid advancements in gender equality.
It focuses on recognising strategies and tools that drive women's progress in education, employment, and leadership.
