BTA :: Women Journalists in Bulgaria Continue to Work under Insecure Conditions, amid Sexism, Harassment, Study Shows - EUROPE SAYS
Women journalists in Bulgaria continue to work under insecure employment conditions, amid widespread sexism and harassment, while the profession is becoming increasingly feminized without leading to better. . .
Women journalists in Bulgaria continue to work under insecure employment conditions, amid widespread sexism and harassment, while the profession is becoming increasingly feminized without leading to better protection for women in the media, according to the study “Being a Woman Journalist: The Price of the Profession”, presented by the Association of European Journalists-Bulgaria (AEJ-Bulgaria) in Sofia on Monday. The study is based on 14 in-depth interviews and two focus groups involving a total of 30 women journalists from 10 localities across the country, conducted between December 2025 and June 2026. Participants included representatives of national and regional media outlets, as well as freelance journalists. The report was authored by researcher Nikoleta Daskalova. AEJ-Bulgaria Chair Maria Cheresheva said that the issue of working conditions is inseparable from the broader issue of freedom of speech. According to her, although journalism in Bulgaria is now a female-dominated profession, this does not mean that women are better protected. She argued that problems in the sector are rarely discussed publicly because journalists are generally accustomed to reporting on other people’s problems rather than their own. Cheresheva called for concrete measures to improve working conditions and for greater solidarity within the profession. Daskalova noted that the study follows up on some of the trends identified in an earlier survey on the state of the journalism profession conducted nearly a decade ago. She said that insecure employment, low pay and the lack of social protection remain among the most alarming findings. The study shows that social security contributions are often regarded as a “luxury”, while it is common practice for journalists to be employed on minimum-wage contracts supplemented by authors’ fees. Salaries are rarely adjusted for inflation, and even in the public media, where labour rights are better regulated, pay is still considered low, Daskalova said. The situation is particularly difficult in regional media, where full employment contracts are often lacking and journalists combine several roles at once, including advertising activities. According to the report’s author, a team of three people is now considered well staffed. The study also found that freelancing does not bring the expected independence but often means more work, less security and a high risk of professional burnout. Among the issues that, according to Daskalova, remain insufficiently discussed within the profession is motherhood. Women journalists are often forced to negotiate an increase in their declared social insurance income only after becoming pregnant, while their return to work usually comes earlier than planned. Some participants said they had been warned by managers that journalism is not a suitable profession for women who want to have a family. The study found widespread sexism both inside newsrooms and beyond them. Women journalists reported comments about their appearance and age, cases in which young women were sent to meetings with advertisers because of their gender, as well as offensive treatment by politicians and businesspeople. Online harassment also remains widespread, with even positive comments often accompanied by sexual innuendo. The report’s author noted that a particularly worrying trend is the high level of tolerance towards sexism within the professional community itself, while awareness of age discrimination is considerably higher. Other forms of pressure described by the women journalists included verbal threats, ultimatums, being summoned to offices, lawsuits known as SLAPPs, pressure by telephone, demands to remove published articles, and threats directed at members of their families. According to the study, the highest risks are faced by young women journalists, pregnant women, freelancers and those engaged in investigative journalism. Council for Electronic Media (CEM) Chair Gabriela Naplatanova presented data from the regulator’s monitoring, showing that women account for 58% of presenters and reporters across the 18 monitored radio and television media outlets, compared with 42% for men. At the same time, men make up 69% of guests featured in media content, compared with 31% for women. Naplatanova also cited UNESCO data showing that four in ten journalistic stories worldwide are told by women, yet only 22% of leadership positions in the media are held by women. She stressed the need for the journalistic community to demonstrate greater professional solidarity in cases of pressure against women journalists and recalled that the CEM has repeatedly responded to public attacks against women journalists. The study was supported by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, while the presentation was organized with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Bulgaria. The AEJ-Bulgaria noted that it bears sole responsibility for the content of the study and the presentation of its findings, which do not necessarily reflect the positions of the funding institutions.