On International Women’s Day, as President of the Trade Union of Croatian Journalists (SNH) and a member of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), I am marking this important day with fellow women journalists in Pristina at the regional conference “Women Journalists in the Spotlight.” The Association of Journalists of Kosovo and the Network of Women Journalists of Kosovo organize the conference in honor of International Women’s Day. From Pristina, my opening message is clear: Women’s voices in journalism matter now more than ever:
“I am Maja Sever, a journalist and the president of the Trade Union of Croatian Journalists and the European Federation of Journalists. At 53, I have dedicated years to advocating gender equality, tirelessly fighting and arguing for our right to be treated equally. From the beginning of my career, I have been active in the journalists’ union and the association. For more than 30 years, every year before March 8th, I have written the same statement. I change the picture and sometimes the title, but the content remains the same. This year, I chose the title Women mean resistance because, in our times, resistance is imperative. It shows that we will not give up the fight for women’s rights, equality, fairly paid work, and a solidary, safe, and free society.
And this conference is followed by the valuable work of the women from the Association of Journalists of Kosovo. The research was conducted by two brave and strong women, Getoarbe Mulliqi and Artiola Babunig, who, through their work, demonstrated how powerful, capable, and resilient we can be. Their report highlights: “Female journalists in Kosovo face significant security risks, including physical threats and psychological harm. The combination of gender-based discrimination and security risks creates a hostile environment, discouraging women from fully committing to their work and limiting their professional opportunities.”
Female journalists face insecure working conditions, low wages, and precarious work every day. They encounter sexism in newsrooms and are exposed to threats and attacks simply because they do their job and because they are women. Female workers are still underpaid. In Croatia, we earn 14% less than men. Fourteen percent! Some years it’s a little more, some a little less, but it’s always there—the gender gap is here. We still work for lower salaries than men while doing at least two jobs. Despite all our hard work in the newsroom, years of education, and proclaimed equality, dirty laundry still waits in the bathroom, a warm meal must be prepared for the teenager, and the household still needs to be cared for.
So, tell me, aren’t you tired of it? Obviously not. Because attacks on our rights are getting fiercer, society is sinking into patriarchy, and we are being pushed back into the cave. But we have grown stronger along the way. There are more of us. Statistics show that we are more educated. And we will not give up.
We will continue to fight for equal pay, equal work, and equal representation of women in all areas of media—as journalists, editors, experts, and authors. We demand that sexism be removed from the media, newsrooms, advertisements, and from social networks. We demand safety for female journalists who work daily in conditions where they are expected to be just “pretty faces” and to remain silent about threats, insults, and discrimination.
Data from the European Federation of Journalists’ research shows that female journalists are far more likely than their male colleagues to experience verbal abuse, discrimination, and sexual harassment. Women in newsrooms more often suffer humiliation, threats, and attacks. Moreover, more and more female journalists are leaving the profession because working conditions are unbearable. Sexism and insecurity have turned newsrooms into a hostile environment for women. Journalism is being systematically underpaid precisely because more women are entering the field. This is not a coincidence. When there are too many women, when we are more educated and capable and dare to take up space, attempts to silence us are more vigorous. 
But we will not be silent. We fight. We are resistance. We don’t want congratulations and flowers—we want justice and equality! We want women’s rights, equality, safety, and freedom. We will not give up or get tired. Not today, not tomorrow, not next year. We are here, we are loud, and we are fighting—for all the women who came before us and those who will come after us—because women mean resistance. And we will never stop demanding more equality.”
Happy International Women’s Day! The fight continues.
Maja Sever
