At the beginning of March, we contributed to the presentation of the Bolivia chapter of the 2025 Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP), an international initiative analysing the presence and representation of women in the news across 93 countries. The Bolivian report was prepared by the Circle of Women Journalists in Bolivia, the Radio and Television Training Service for Development (SECRAD), the National Council of Journalistic Ethics (CNEP), and Radio Education (ERBOL), with support from ECES.
The seminar opened with remarks from Nidya Pesántez, UN Women Representative in Bolivia; Sara Macharia from World Association for Christian Communication (WACC), who joined virtually; José Luis Aguirre Alvis, former Vice President of WACC World; and Patricia Flores, President of the Circle of Women Journalists of La Paz who highlighted the importance of ECES’ commitment to press freedom, pluralism and the protection of women journalists, particularly in electoral contexts where risks and intimidation are heightened.
The event also featured contributions from Celine Ronse of the European Union Delegation and Katia Uriona, ECES gender and political violence expert. The GMMP 2025 report, produced by WACC Global and its worldwide monitoring network, brings together three decades of analysis on women’s visibility and treatment in news production. This edition revisits persistent questions such as who shapes the news agenda, how women are represented in reporting and what progress or setbacks are occurring in gender equality within the media landscape.
Findings presented at the seminar show that, 30 years after the Beijing Declaration, gender equality in both Bolivian and global media remains stagnant. Women continue to be underrepresented as subjects of news and as expert sources, while coverage remains focused predominantly on politics, economics and violence. The report identifies two major concerns: the ongoing violence faced by women journalists, particularly during elections, and the low political representation of women, which is further undermined by sexist narratives and media-driven aggression.
The Bolivian results reveal that women appear in only 28% of news stories, compared with 72% for men, and constitute just 36% of the sources cited. The findings also underscore the frequency of threats and acts of violence targeting women journalists in electoral settings. These persistent gaps reflect the urgent need for structural change to ensure more inclusive, fair, and safe media environments.
