‘They are putting their lives on the line every day to report’: the woman standing up for female journalists against rising repression

Kiran Nazish, founding director of the Coalition for Women in Journalism, speaking in Toronto, Canada, June 2022. Photograph: Carlos Osorio/Getty Images

For years, as Kiran Nazish worked as a journalist in conflict zones around the world, she watched the female reporters around her struggling against the odds to build their careers, get support and stay safe.

In Mexico, female journalists told Nazish that they had been blackmailed by their bosses to cooperate sexually or face demotion. While working on the frontline in conflict zones Nazish was asked by male colleagues: “Why are you here? Go back to Pakistan.”