A Gender Analysis of the Media Landscape in Iraq

A gender analysis that explores the presence of women in the media landscape in Iraq. This analysis shows the recent access of Iraqi citizens (women and men) to information, the way information consumers are seeing the presence of women representation, and whether these women have any role in the dissemination of the contents. Additionally, this analysis highlights the challenges that might appear for equal access to the political and economic process in the Iraqi media.
Since 2017, Internews has been actively engaged in the delivery of a number of projects intended to improve gender representation and the rights of women journalists in the Iraqi media landscape.
This work stems from an Internews global strategic objective to improve and enhance the diverse voices of women in the media as well as advance women’s leadership role and representation within media organisations themselves. All of these projects maintain a strong focus on fighting and preventing sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) through the media.
This report looks at the media landscape in Iraq and how women are (or are not) represented in the media and how the public feels about their representation. Iraqi audiences, in particular women, feel unrepresented by their media. They want to see and hear the voices of ordinary Iraqi women relaying their lived experiences in order to find solutions to everyday challenges and problems.
There is a clear lack of support at an organisational level within media organisations for women in the media. Maternity policies are few and far between and life insurance policies are non-existent. There are very limited policies to ensure that women are protected or indeed encouraged to enter into the media.
Iraqi audiences, in particular women, feel unrepresented by their media. They want to see and hear the voices of ordinary Iraqi women relaying their lived experiences in order to find solutions to everyday challenges and problems. At the same time, they bemoaned the lack of expertise from female experts and sources.
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