Where Are the Women? Insights from Across Asia on the Barriers to Including Women as Sources and Journalists in Environmental Reporting

"Despite differences in cultures, economics and politics across regions, the barriers and solutions we discovered were often much the same, a finding that will inform the way we design gender-based trainings, tools and outreach."

This report, published by the Environmental Journalism Network (EJN), sets out to discover some of the challenges women in Asia face - both as journalists and as sources for the media - in the context of environmental reporting. It shares the findings of research conducted in Pakistan, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines that was designed to assess how reporters think about gender, what kind of barriers they face when seeking to include women's voices in their stories, and how social and cultural views of women create challenges to inclusion.

The idea for this research stems from a pilot study EJN conducted as part of Reflect Reality, a methodology Internews launched in 2019 to increase women's visibility in the news media (see Related Summaries, below, for more information). The research for this report took place from December 2020 to January 2021 and included journalists in Asia who had received grant support and mentorship from EJN, as well as journalists who had not been part of the EJN programme. Researchers also spoke to gender experts, media trainers, and news industry professionals and conducted a desk review of 126 stories that had been collated using a gender tracking tool.

The chapters in the report each analyse the results of the study in the four countries, with each chapter also including a description of the gender and media context in each country, the key findings for that country, and recommendations based on those findings.

The following are some of the key findings as highlighted in the report:

• Many journalists are aware of the importance of gender inclusion but still don't make including women's voices and perspectives a priority in their reporting.
• Women are often seen as "less credible" sources than men.
• Socio-cultural norms influence how journalists think about women as sources, and their limited representation in the media serves as a reflection of gender inequality more broadly.
• When pressed for time, journalists often don't feel they can put in the effort to seek out new sources, returning to the same male-dominated lists.
• Women reporters face safety concerns that can make field reporting more challenging without support from their editors. This is a barrier in particular for environmental reporting.
• Men still hold most leadership positions in newsrooms, leading to less awareness of the absence of women's voices and/or a lack of support for reporters seeking to include women more.
• Many journalists have difficulty gaining access to women sources. Particularly in rural areas, they may find it hard to approach women because cultural and societal norms make it awkward and uncomfortable for a woman to speak to a stranger, especially a man.
• There remains a wide pay gap between men and women journalists, which factors into the prevalence of women's voices in the media.
• There are often fewer prominent women experts, particularly in environmental fields or in high-level government positions.

One common thread through all four countries was the role social and cultural norms play in terms of where women can go and whom they can speak to, both as journalists and as sources. For example, in India, EJN's researchers learned from journalists how difficult it can be to find women experts in certain niche fields because women have historically been excluded from higher education. Other interviewees mentioned that women experts often have to ask a supervisor for permission to speak and that traditional or generational wisdom, much of which is held by women, is not considered expertise. In Indonesia, the research revealed that journalists struggle to find women leaders or experts to interview when reporting on forestry or mining issues in remote regions of the country. When they do interview women, it's often as victims or members of affected communities, rather than as expert sources. In Pakistan, two journalists, both men, reported to EJN that they find it difficult to interview women in remote areas of the country because of societal norms that discourage women from speaking to strangers. In both Hindu and Muslim communities in the country, women observe purdah - seclusion from strangers and/or men - in different ways. Some may cover up entirely around strangers of any gender, while others may show their faces to unknown women but not men. Navigating these differences, especially when on deadline, can be a considerable challenge. In the Philippines, the journalists interviewed also cited difficulties finding women experts as a major obstacle to including more women sources in their stories. One interviewee noted that men tend to respond quicker to interview requests than women, who often want to consult with colleagues to make sure they are the right person to be quoted.

Overall, the report reiterates that more work needs to be done to advance gender equality in the media and presents a list of recommendations for how EJN and other organisations can support journalists in making their work more gender-balanced. Recommendations include:

• Create databases of women experts by country and field.
• Support gender sensitivity and awareness trainings for journalists and editors to increase the number of women quoted and the number of high-ranking women journalists in newsrooms.
• Support media engagement trainings that focus on ways to make women sources feel more comfortable interacting with journalists.
• Train journalists and media outlets on the "expertise gap" to recognise the value of traditional and/or generational wisdom as a form of legitimate expertise.
• Focus on the demand side as well as the production side: Women should be encouraged to read more news, and all news consumers should be encouraged to request more women's voices.
• Emphasise the importance of including women's voices as a way to improve journalistic storytelling and present more accurate narratives of the impacts of environmental issues like climate change.

Editor's note: Below please find a video of a discussion on the findings of the report, which took place on International Women's Day, March 8 2022.