---
title: 'Pakistani Women Starkly Underrepresented in Traditional News Coverage: Report'
url: 'https://thediplomaticinsight.com/pak-women-underrepresented-in-news-coverage/'
author: 'News Desk'
date: '2026-02-14T14:01:32+05:00'
categories:
  - 'Gender Insight'
  - 'Women Insight Daily'
---

# Pakistani Women Starkly Underrepresented in Traditional News Coverage: Report

**Islamabad (TDI):** A newly released media monitoring report shows that women in Pakistan continue to be significantly underrepresented in news coverage across traditional media, even as digital platforms offer a comparatively broader space for visibility.

The findings were published on Thursday by the Pakistani partner of the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) as part of its *Pakistan National Report 2025*.

The report, based on an analysis of news content from May 6 last year, a day marked by intense political and security developments, reveals entrenched patterns that limit women’s presence in mainstream reporting.

Across nine print newspapers, six television channels, a state radio outlet, and four news websites, women accounted for only 11% of all news subjects.

In traditional media coverage, women were most visible in segments like arts, culture and celebrity reporting, but were largely absent from key beats such as politics, economy, crime and sports.

Even in issues directly affecting women, such as gender-based violence, their presence in traditional outlets was minimal. The report also highlights the way women are portrayed when they do appear.

**Read More: [Digital Narratives: Women as Architects of Democratic Resilience](https://thediplomaticinsight.com/digital-narratives-women-architects-of-democratic-resilience/)**

Only 15% of news stories featured women as central subjects, and many were identified primarily by family roles; a stark contrast to the 2% of male subjects described in similar terms.

Men dominated reporting in other respects too, such as they were more frequently depicted as victims in stories, disproportionately filled news photographs, and accounted for nearly 90% of direct quotes.

Most strikingly, only 1% of all monitored content challenged gender stereotypes or explicitly addressed gender inequality, pointing to a broader deficit in news coverage that interrogates structural issues that women in Pakistan face.

The report, however, points to a silver lining in the growth of digital news platforms. Online outlets not only featured women more frequently as subjects, about 26%, but also included them notably in politics, social issues, science and health.

Women were central to all digital coverage of gender-based violence, and many stories incorporated broader rights-based perspectives.