In 2025, the National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting, together with Women in Media NGO, continued systematic work on monitoring the status of gender equality in the media sector.
The annual study “Gender Profile of the Ukrainian Media,” which is now conducted for the third time, is part of the regulator’s comprehensive action to implement the principles of equal rights and opportunities of women and men in the activities of the Ukrainian media.
The results provide a picture of the dynamics of change in the staffing structure, management practices, social responsibility of newsrooms, and media outlets’ readiness to implement internal equality policies.
This research has been conducted in the context of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine, which has been impacting the work of Ukrainian media for over eleven years, with over three years in its full-scale phase. This had a significant impact on the staffing structure, financial capacity, safety of employees, and psychological resilience of media teams.
The war has exacerbated gender-related challenges in the media sector: some employees have been drafted or lost their jobs because of relocation, and women in newsrooms have seen their workload increase significantly, as they tend to take on several professional functions at once now and work in management roles. At the same time, women journalists have become more vulnerable to online violence, disinformation, and technology-facilitated attacks (TFGBV), which reflects broader trends of digital warfare.
Despite challenging conditions, Ukrainian media continue to play a critical role in countering disinformation, strengthening public trust, and protecting democratic values. Therefore, systemic tracking of the situation with gender equality, inclusiveness, and safety of media professionals becomes not only the issue of human rights but also an element of national resilience and recovery of the sector.
245 responses from the media were collected, with a total of 7184 employees.
Looking Back
Data from 2025 shows gradual but noticeable progress in Ukrainian media towards gender equality—in particular, an increase in the number of women in all professional roles and the expansion of basic equal opportunity policies. At the same time, certain difficulties persist, such as structural inequality in access to leadership positions, insufficient inclusion for people with disabilities, veterans, and internally displaced persons, as well as the lack of a systemic approach to countering online violence. These trends indicate that the quantitative presence of women in the media has not yet translated into qualitative equality of opportunity. Further development of the industry should be based on institutionalizing the principles of equality, training management for their practical implementation, and creating a safe digital environment for all media workers. An important role will be played by education, systematic gender-sensitive professional training, leadership programs for women executives in the media, and peer-to-peer exchange with European newsrooms, fostering the formation of a new management culture, mutual support, and equality in the Ukrainian media.
KEY FINDINGS
- For the first time, women predominate in all professional media categories. In 2025, women will make up 57% of editorial staff, and men—43%. This is the first year of the assessment when women predominate in all professional roles.
- The “glass ceiling” persists: women predominate among workers but not in management. Although the proportion of women among management is increasing, the structural trend persists: the lower the level of managerial responsibility, the higher the proportion of women. The largest proportion of women is among journalists, presenters, freelancers, and marketing and PR specialists (from 77% to 58%).
- Men remain more represented in technical professions. The highest percentage of men was recorded in technical roles (49%), while among presenters, they constituted only 25%.
- The age distribution is stable: the older the group, the more men it includes. As before, the proportion of men increases with age, while women predominate in younger groups. The most numerous age categories remain 36–60 years old.
- Women are more likely to combine several roles in newsrooms. This demonstrates their flexibility and high level of responsibility but can also mean an additional burden in conditions of staff shortage.
- Women are more actively investing in professional development. 61% of all those who have undergone training or professional development programs are women. This demonstrates their ambition and desire to grow in the profession, while also highlighting the need for systematic mentoring and leadership development programs.
- Social policies are more often applied to women. Flexible schedules, parental leave, and other forms of support are typically used specifically for women, indicating both gender sensitivity in newsrooms and the persistence of traditional caregiving roles.
- Inclusion for people with disabilities remains low. Women with disabilities make up 4% of all women in the media; men with disabilities make up 6% of all male workers. Despite the relative gender balance, these figures reflect the low overall participation of people with disabilities. Only some newsrooms provide adaptive conditions or a flexible work format, which shows a lack of barrier-free access and of a systematic policy of inclusion.
- People with disabilities usually do not need any special conditions in newsrooms. Among the adaptations that editorial offices provide at the request of their colleagues with disabilities are flexible work schedules, remote work options, the provision of additional equipment for performing duties, and other types of comfortable working conditions with regard to health-based needs.
- Support for veterans and internally displaced persons is sporadic. As was the case last year, most newsrooms do not practice a special approach to sensitive groups in wartime: veterans, families of wounded or deceased military servants who previously worked in the editorial office, and people who were forcibly displaced due to the war. Companies claim the reason is mostly the lack of interest / demand from such individuals. Individual practices are described in more detail in one of the subsequent sections.
- Internal equality policies exist but are implemented selectively. 74% of media outlets declare the principle of equal opportunities, 42%—anti-discrimination, and 41%—transparent remuneration. However, policies to combat harassment (17%) and support women’s leadership (12%) remain the least developed. Almost 25% of newsrooms do not have any such policies at all, indicating the need for further institutionalization of equality, especially at the local level.
- Policy implementation mechanisms are absent in most media. 53.5% of newsrooms do not have a designated person or unit responsible for equality issues, and another 9% are unsure whether such a role exists. Only 37.6% have a clear response system, indicating a gap between formal declarations and practical application of policies.
- Online violence remains an “invisible” problem. 90% of newsrooms said they were not aware of any cases of gender-based online violence against women employees. This indicates a lack of recording and monitoring procedures rather than an absence of incidents. According to a study by Women in Media NGO and UNESCO (2024), 81% of Ukrainian women journalists have encountered online attacks.
- Only 25% of media outlets have practices for responding to online violence, mostly informal ones. In most cases, these are verbal agreements or situational support, without clear protocols. Another 53% were unable to answer, indicating low awareness and a lack of structured procedures.
- Newsrooms recognize their need for support and training. 75–80% of respondents noted the importance of psychological assistance, 70% of legal assistance, and 60–65% want to receive training on response to online attacks. About half emphasize the need for internal policies and procedures to protect women journalists in the digital environment.
- Technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) has become a new challenge to the freedom of expression and safety of women journalists. International and European standards—the Istanbul Convention, the Digital Services Act (DSA), the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the Artificial Intelligence Act—already define approaches to its prevention and punishment. Ukraine has only basic standards in place, with a lack of special categories of crimes, effective content removal mechanisms, education for newsrooms and law enforcement, and support of affected women in media.
- Predominance of women in media, quantity-wise, is not the same thing as gender equality. The preponderance of women in a field that requires high emotional involvement, significant workload, and often offers low pay is not a sign of equality. The gap between the quantitative presence of women and their access to leadership positions and influence opportunities remains evident.