EFJ General Meeting in Budapest adopts resolution to end inequality and violence against women journalists
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has adopted a strong resolution at its General Meeting in Budapest on 3 June 2025, calling for urgent action to tackle inequality, discrimination, and violence faced by women journalists across Europe.
The resolution, tabled by the EFJ Steering Committee and its Expert Group on Gender and Diversity (GENDEG), follows new findings from a Europe-wide survey that paints a troubling picture of the realities many women journalists face today.
“We need to take concrete action towards these persistent gender inequalities in the media in Europe; discrimination by gender or diversity is not only a human rights issue, but it is also affecting the quality of our media and the right to information of the citizens”, says Elena Tarifa, GENDEG’s co-chair.
Conducted between December 2024 and January 2025, the GENDEG survey gathered responses from 859 journalists (499 women and 360 men) across 17 European countries. The results confirm that gender inequality is not only persistent in journalism but in some cases worsening, especially for mothers and younger women entering the profession.
Many women reported that becoming a mother either stalled their careers or forced them out of newsroom roles entirely.
Others described being sidelined after maternity leave or struggling with rigid working hours, making childcare nearly impossible to manage.
Pay inequality was also evident. While nearly half of all respondents believed men and women are paid equally, 70% of the women surveyed disagreed. Many also said they felt unable to negotiate better working conditions or pay.
“It took years just to ask for a computer,” one respondent explained. “I don’t feel armed to negotiate anything beyond my fixed salary,” said a woman journalist.
Discrimination and abuse in the workplace were also widespread. More than a quarter of all respondents said they had felt discriminated against in their careers – and 77% of those were women. Women reported higher rates of verbal abuse, intimidation, and harassment. Out of 1,346 reports of inappropriate or abusive behavior, over 65% came from women. Nearly all of the sexually transgressive behavior reported was experienced by women.
These incidents occurred in all professional settings: in newsrooms first and foremost, out in the field, online, and even via private messages or phone calls. Perpetrators ranged from supervisors and colleagues to interviewees and members of the public.
Despite the prevalence of misconduct, reporting systems were widely viewed as ineffective. Only 28% of respondents said it was easy to report inappropriate behavior. Many women expressed a lack of trust in those tasked with handling complaints—or said they didn’t even know who to contact.
“If we don’t approach the essential issue of gender equality, also related to diversity based discrimination, we are moving away from a fundamental principle that governs any democracy and we run the risk of seeing women disappear from positions of responsibility, already few in number,” the resolution reads.
Based on these findings, the EFJ is urging media employers to implement zero-tolerance policies for discrimination and violence, develop workplace equality plans, and support women’s advancement into leadership roles. The resolution also calls for stronger inclusion of gender equality in EU policy, and for unions to integrate specific protections into collective agreements.
