A new report which aims to shine a light on the global under-reporting of violence against women and girls claims news media has a “blind spot” when it comes to coverage of the issue and is calling for improved reporting.
At a time when a series of high profile cases have hit news media, including Jeffrey Epstein, the former Prince Andrew, Dominique Pelicot, Harvey Weinstein, the Tate brothers, Bill Cosby, Mohamed Al Fayed, and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, the report’s authors described as “pitiful” the 1.6% of all global coverage achieved between 2017 and 2025.
The first-of-its-kind report The Global Misogyny News Coverage Tracker from AKAS reviewed 1.14 billion online news stories published globally between 2017 and 2025. It found 19.6 million news stories which included one of 12 words selected to best represent “the essence of the misogynistic harassment and violence women experience at the hands of men”: rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sexual violence, sexism, violence against women, gender-based violence, MeToo, femicide, and misogyny.
With just 1.6% of global news between 2017 and 2025 covering the topics, the report suggests the lack of coverage is “overlooking, or at worst ignoring, a profound and desperate need among its women audiences”. For context, during the same period, global searches for “domestic abuse support” increased five-fold, according to Google Trends. In the UK and US, these searches quadrupled over the same period. The research found coverage peaked at 2.2% at the height of the #MeToo movement in 2018 but had fallen to 1.3% globally by 2025.
According to the World Health Organisation, one in three women has been sexually violated in her lifetime and one in nine women worldwide has experienced violence at the hands of a man or men in the last 12 months. Artificial intelligence tools and other digital technologies are amplifying existing patterns of violence and creating new forms of abuse, according to UN Women, who estimate six in ten women and one in five girls face some form of digital violence including image-based sexual exploitation, deepfakes and coordinated online harassment.
Calling on the media to respond to its responsibility to improve its reporting on violence against women and girls, Gemma Sherrington, CEO of charity Refuge, said: “Violence against women and girls is at epidemic levels. Yet, as The Global Misogyny News Coverage Tracker report highlights, the true scale of VAWG is still not being reflected in the global media. Alarmingly, articles including terms related to misogynistic abuse have dropped to the lowest level since in the nine-year period covered by the report. In fact, the report found that between 2017-2025, global searches for “domestic abuse support” increased five-fold.
“In England and Wales, one in four women will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime, and, on average, a woman is killed by a current or former partner every five days. This is exactly why we need to keep amplifying survivor voices and having vital conversations that actively challenge harmful narratives around VAWG.
“The media plays a powerful role in shaping public understanding of VAWG and challenging harmful attitudes. How the media writes about misogyny and VAWG impacts us all, and with that influence comes a responsibility to report on VAWG in a way that is ethical and centred on survivors.
“The media must rise to this responsibility, ensuring VAWG receives the sustained attention it requires while platforming survivors and confronting damaging narratives. Women and girls deserve to see their experiences meaningfully represented in the media, and Refuge remains committed to amplifying survivor voices.”
