A regional dialogue on feminist pathways to journalist safety calls for gender-sensitive protection
KATHMANDU | May 20: On May 19, 2025, Media Action Nepal and ARTICLE 19, in partnership with Global Affairs Canada, organized a regional networking meeting in Kathmandu titled “Feminist Pathways to Journalist Safety: A Regional Sharing Event for Gender-Sensitive Protection.” The event provided an insightful platform for regional dialogue on advancing intersectional feminist approaches to journalist safety.
Organized under the Canada-supported project “Equally Safe: Towards a Feminist Approach to the Safety of Journalists (FEMSOJ) – Phase 2,” the event served as a significant platform for working women journalists from various media houses to share how their gender and other intersecting aspects of their identity impact their safety and security at work, and to share guidelines on how to situate possible approaches to monitoring, protection, or policy and advocacy solutions from an intersectional gender perspective. It also offered a valuable opportunity to hear directly from women journalists and experts advocating for media freedom through a feminist lens, enriching the dialogue with lived experiences and informed perspectives.
Speaking at the opening session, Media Action Nepal’s Founding Chairperson and Executive Director, Laxman Datt Pant, underscored the importance of intersectionality and the diverse characteristics of newsrooms in Nepal. He pointed out persistent inequalities, stating, “Newsrooms in Nepal do not provide equal opportunities to female journalists, often under the pretext of questioning their capabilities, and there remains a noticeable gap in pay.” There is a continuing trend of bystander treatment of journalists by security forces and the government, he added.
Newsrooms in Nepal do not provide equal opportunities to female journalists, often under the pretext of questioning their capabilities, and there remains a noticeable gap in pay.
Presenting an overview of the FEMSOJ initiative, Shahnewaj Patwari, Head of Programmes for Bangladesh and the South Asia Office at ARTICLE 19, highlighted job security as a key concern, both in the newsroom and in the field. “While various safety issues exist, job security remains the most pressing,” he noted. Patwari also observed that gender sensitivity is often lacking among male journalists, and at times even among women journalists, due to underlying newsroom dynamics. This highlights that any measures to address the unique threats women journalists face must go beyond an “add women and stir” approach: simply including women is not enough, and inclusive capacity building is needed to build solidarity.
Feminist approach to safety of journalists
Brigitte Andersen, Program Officer for Protection and Civic Space at ARTICLE 19, emphasized the need to approach journalist safety from an intersectional feminist perspective. She highlighted how power imbalances, sexism, and patriarchal norms continue to shape both newsroom dynamics and existing monitoring and policy approaches to the protection of journalists, stating, “While I may not have the deep contextual knowledge of Nepal that you all do, in Europe and the U.S., we are experiencing a backlash against feminism — making this project and conversation all the more important. Women journalists face distinct challenges related to gender, caste, and identity, and these must be acknowledged for any approach to the safety of journalists to be comprehensive.”
Citing an IFJ report showing that almost fifty percent of women journalists globally experience gender-based violence at work, Andersen underscored the importance of taking online abuse seriously. It often translates into offline attacks and has enduring effects on the health and professional mobility of women journalists and has been, further intensified by the proliferation of generative AI technologies. She stressed that traditional safety measures often overlook or downplay the unique risks women journalists face, effectively erasing possibilities of addressing them.
To ensure the unique gendered safety needs of women are seen and addressed, Andersen called for a more holistic, feminist approach that includes as leaders in shaping their own safety protocols, fosters solidarity through peer support networks, and demands accountability through stronger workplace policies and institutional reforms. “We must ensure women are not passively protected but also heard, respected, and involved in the design of safety measures that reflect their lived realities,” she concluded.
Panel discussion on feminist pathways to safety of women journalists
The event also featured a powerful plenary discussion focused on incorporating intersectional and feminist perspectives into journalist safety strategies. Moderating the session, Laxman Datt Pant, the Executive Director of Media Action Nepal highlighted that, to ensure meaningful safety for all journalists, we must adopt an intersectional gender lens, recognizing how overlapping identities like gender, caste, class, and geography shape unique risks.
The panel included prominent voices such as Namrata Sharma, Senior Journalist and Coordinator of the Mass Communication Committee of the Nepal National Commission for UNESCO (NNCU); Sangita Khadka, Chairperson of the Minimum Wage Fixation Committee (MWFC); Ramkala Khadka, Chairperson of Working Women Journalists (WWJ); Kamala Panthi, Chairperson of Sancharika Samuha; and Poonam Poudel, Editor-in-Chief of Breaknlinks Nepali. Together, they mapped the current safety landscape in Nepali newsrooms through a feminist lens and shared their personal experiences dealing with harassment, discrimination, and institutional neglect.
Namrata Sharma highlighted the rising threat of technology-facilitated gender-based violence, attributing its persistence to entrenched patriarchal and feudal mindsets. “Journalism today is not only about truth-telling, it is also about confronting toxic masculinity and dismantling patriarchal systems,” she said.
Panelists shared how female journalists routinely face gender-specific challenges, including mental abuse, exclusion, biased treatment, and political interference, often stemming from alliances between media owners and political elites. These pressures are intensified by the absence of gender-sensitive policies and the normalization of hypocrisy and harassment in newsroom culture.
Delivering the closing remarks, Priyanka Jha from Media Action Nepal pointed out the alarming lack of support and solidarity among female journalists. “There is systemic discrimination against women in newsrooms, and female journalists often face additional challenges simply because they are women,” she said. “Without accessible systems and unified support, safety and equality for women in the media will remain out of reach,” she concluded.
The networking event brought together a total of 53 journalists and communicators, including 46 women, representing a diverse range of media outlets such as radio, television, newspapers, and online portals.