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.