According to the latest measurements of the Global Media Monitoring Project, progress worldwide has slowed down; even though there have been improvements in the Peninsular Basque Country, women’s presence in the media remains at only 29%

Researchers in Audiovisual Communication and Advertising and in Journalism at the EHU-University of the Basque Country have participated in an international project (GMMP) to monitor how many women appear in the media and in what capacity they do so, and using the same methodology they analysed the media of the ACBC (Autonomous Community of the Basque Country) and Navarre. The research revealed that worldwide no clear trend to promote the presence of women has been detected, whereas here steps are being taken.

The Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) was launched worldwide in 1995, and the results of the latest global data were published recently. This project seeks to measure how much women appear in the media and what role they play, and this measurement is made every five years. This time the data on 160 countries was gathered. “To conduct this monitoring work, the news items published on a specific day, which is not divulged, are analysed to produce an x-ray of the situation across the world,” explained the EHU researcher Arantza Gutierrez-Paz. The seventh global measurement was made on 6 May, 2025. As the authors of the research pointed out, “this is a static picture of a specific moment, but it can provide data for reflection”.

In 2020, researchers in the EHU’s Department of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising and the Department of Journalism began to add the data on some media in the ACBC and Navarre to the GMMP’s sample for Spain “so as to be able to incorporate the regional perspective into the Spanish research”. In the distribution made by the GMMP Spain group, taking the administrative regions of the ACBC and Navarre into consideration, the following media were allocated to the EHU group: Gara, COPE Bilbao, the ETB1’s Gaur Egun, Argia and the Diario de Noticias website.

In parallel, “we thought we would use the same methodology to analyse a broader sample of the media in the Peninsular Basque Country”, and they compared it with the measurement made in 2020. In addition to the above media, Berria, Deia, El Correo, COPE, Euskadi Irratia, Euskalerria Irratia and Hamaika TB were included in the sample: this produced a total of 121 news items (33 % in the newspapers; 28 % in the radio stations; 17.5% in the TV stations, and 21.5 % in the digital publications), 64 of them in Basque. The results of the research were published in the Basque Media Observatory (Behategia).

Worldwide, the upward trend has slowed down

The GMMP study shows that no major progress has been observed worldwide in the last thirty years: “The presence of women in the media has increased by nine points (from 17% in 1995 to 26% in 2025), but in recent years this trend has slowed down,” explained the EHU researcher. This means that, in general, only one in four news protagonists is a woman, in other words, only one in four news stories is signed by women, or only one in four news stories are women the protagonists.

It was revealed that, at the international level, women’s testimonies are associated with personal experiences and coverage of views of ordinary citizens (i.e. voices with little legitimacy) and do not account for a quarter of the experts or spokespersons who appear. As a result of all this, “one can say that we are very far removed from the goals established in Beijing in 1995, and that there is no significant trend in promoting women’s participation,” said Gutiérrez.

Still no parity in the media of the ACBC and Navarre

Compared with the international average, the percentage of women in the media in the Peninsular Basque Country as a whole is three points higher (29%), although it does not account for one third. What is more, the study shows that “women have a greater presence in the media in Basque in particular, but there is still no parity. Although there are fewer women’s voices than men’s voices, they are increasingly occupying more space in the news stories, especially as experts or spokespersons for a group. In this respect, the women who appear frequently are politicians or activists in the public sphere.”

The data by media type show that “in the print media the difference has been reduced, but the gap is greater than in the other media. The news is dominated by male voices, both as writers and protagonists and as sources of information”, explained the EHU researcher. However, on TV stations, the data indicate that a more equitable situation is being achieved. And in the digital media women have a greater presence in the Basque Country’s media. However, the researcher admitted that the picture is distorted by the radio station data because “the radio station sample has changed”.

Gutiérrez explained that “it has become clear that there has been an effort in the local media to improve the situation: the feminization of the newsrooms; more and more women are explaining current affairs. In this respect, we want to highlight that in recent years some women have assumed the leadership of the Basque media. Beyond the appointments, internal processes have been developed in different media and, as in other areas, it is difficult to influence habits and it is necessary to analyse whether the threat of the glass cliff is hidden, in other words, whether women have been put in charge when the communication sector is going through a crisis”. The researcher also attached great importance to continuing to influence changes, and “in this respect, we have more and more voices in academia”.

Additional information

Arantza Gutierrez-Paz is a lecturer and researcher in the EHU’s Department of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising and is the Director of the Master’s in Feminist and Gender Studies. She coordinates the EHU group that conducted the monitoring work. Tania Arriaga-Azkarate, Maider Eizmendi-Iraola, Itxaso Fernandez-Astobiza and Erika Fernandez Cabello are members of the team of monitors of the EHU-University of the Basque Country’s GMMP 2025, and participated in this research.