Fojo Media Institute leads Sweden’s participation in the world’s largest study on gender balance in the media – the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) 2025. Conducted every five years since 1995, the GMMP tracks how women and men are represented in news media across the globe. As the national coordinator, Fojo will organise data collection and analysis, contributing to a clearer picture of gender equality in journalism.
“The GMMP results provide invaluable insights into gender representation in the media. They serve as a foundation for advocacy, policy changes and newsroom discussions, helping to create a more inclusive and balanced portrayal of women and men in the news. The results directly inform Fojo’s continued work in this area” says Agneta Söderberg-Jacobson, senior gender advisor and third time GMMP-participant.
The concept for the GMMP emerged from the 1994 ‘Women Empowering Communication’ conference in Bangkok. The project’s primary objectives include mapping women’s representation in news media, developing grassroots research tools, fostering global solidarity among gender and communication groups, raising media awareness and enhancing international media monitoring skills.
Since its inception, the GMMP has expanded significantly. The 2020 study involved volunteers from 116 countries, monitoring over 50,000 media records across radio, television and print. This extensive participation provides a comprehensive global perspective on gender representation in media.
Despite ongoing efforts toward gender equality, the GMMP has consistently found that women remain underrepresented in news media. In 2020, about 25% of news subjects were female. Moreover, when women are featured, they are often portrayed in stereotypical roles and their perspectives are less prevalent in topics affecting them profoundly.
In Sweden, women’s representation improved in the last study – from 32% in 2015 to 38% in 2020. More details can be found here.
Looking ahead to GMMP 2025, there is a recognised need to adapt strategies to address challenges in gender equality within media. Fojo Media Institute actively works to improve gender balance in media through a number of initiatives in Sweden and globally. In this study, Fojo’s role involves organising data collection, analysis and reporting activities within Sweden, contributing to global understanding of gender representation in media.
“The GMMP is a unique initiative where, on a single day, a dedicated team will come together to analyse gender balance in news reporting. The specific date remains undisclosed in advance to ensure unbiased results. We are proud to be part of this global effort, contributing to a more accurate picture of gender representation in the media,” says Agneta Söderberg Jacobson.
The GMMP will be carried out on an undisclosed day during the spring of 2025 in partnership with the Department of Journalism, Media and Communication (JMG) at the University of Gothenburg and the Swedish Gender Equality Agency.
Are you interested in contributing to the study by participating as a volunteer? Find out more here (in Swedish).