World Press Freedom Day: Celebrating the Resistance of Diverse Women in Media
We’re launching a campaign to amplify diverse voices — join us in reshaping the future of media.
Dear Readers,
This year, Migrant Women Press proudly celebrates five years of amplifying migrant women’s voices. Since our inception in 2020, over 80 women from more than 30 countries have published over 200 original articles with us — bringing vital intersectional perspectives on various issues, including labour, policy, activism, justice, health, art and culture, and intersectionality itself. We have achieved all this thanks to small grants, partnerships, donations, and a dedicated volunteer team.
As we mark this milestone, we’re building on our momentum by launching the Migrant Women Press Fellowship — a six-month programme designed to support the next generation of migrant women and women of colour in media. The fellowship offers tailored training, mentorship, and paid publication opportunities to 15 emerging storytellers, including recent graduates, freelancers, and aspiring journalists. Fellows will uplift their skills through training, receive mentorship and create original stories that tackle urgent issues and explore real solutions.
In a media landscape still dominated by privileged voices, your support is crucial to help us shift the narrative. Help us make media that truly reflects us all. Learn more about our campaign and how you can support today.
🗣 MWP Updates
Our first-ever print magazine is here — a powerful collection of 16 stories from our international campaign against gender-based violence. Created by and with migrant and racially marginalised women, and developed in partnership with leading grassroots and established women’s rights organisations, this magazine is a testament to the strength of collective work. It features original illustrations by Malini Chakrabarty and editorial design by Christiana Opoku.
Now we need your help to bring it to more people.
Support our crowdfunding campaign by donating £25 or more and claim your copy today!
Help us reshape the media into a space where migrant women’s voices lead the conversation. Get your MWP magazine here.
Upcoming Event: Shedding Light on Gender-Based Violence Across Borders
🗓 Saturday, 10 May 2025 | 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM (BST)
📍Online
Join us for a powerful live talk with journalists, writers, and activists as we explore migrant and racialised survivors' stories of gender-based violence across borders.
Hear from voices based in Scotland, India, Pakistan, and Lebanon — contributors to our global campaign — as they discuss the challenges survivors face and how their stories are reported across cultures and countries.
Panelists:
Nikita Jain – Journalist, Delhi, India
Rabia Mushtaq – Journalist, Karachi, Pakistan
Viany de Marceau – Activist & founder of REMAN, Lebanon
Francesca Malila – Community Worker, Project Esperanza, Scotland
Juliana da Penha – Founder, Migrant Women Press
Don't miss this urgent and timely conversation. Register now to secure your spot!
🗞 Exploring Migration, Gender, and Race in the News
The Guardian: Legal definition of woman is based on biological sex, UK Supreme Court rules: The UK Supreme Court ruled that the legal definition of "woman" in the Equality Act refers to biological sex, excluding transgender women with gender recognition certificates. The decision, celebrated by gender-critical activists, could restrict trans women's access to single-sex spaces. The ruling is seen as a major setback for trans rights and has sparked calls for legal reform.
TurningPoint: The Woman Who Talks With the River: In Zvornik, Bosnia, Emina, a war returnee in her 70s, keeps her memories alive by caring for her mosque, supporting migrants, and speaking daily to the Drina River. Despite the war’s scars and ongoing hostility, she refuses to abandon her home. Her story is a testament to resilience, memory, and quiet resistance.
Big Issue: “We want people to feel welcome”: Inside the UK's only homeless shelter for trans people.” The UK's only homeless shelter for transgender individuals, the Trans Winter Night Shelter in Hackney, offers vital refuge to trans asylum seekers, many fleeing persecution. Run by LGBTQ+ homelessness charity The Outside Project, it operates during the winter months due to limited funding. The shelter provides a safe, affirming space often lacking in mainstream accommodations.
MWP Selection: What We’re Reading, Watching, and Listening To
📚 'Free from Discrimination and Violence Against Women and Girls' is an Educational Book produced by the Women Without Borders Project for women educators and active citizens. This book is a patchwork of voices highlighting the issues that transcend boundaries, impacting the lives of women and girls of all backgrounds.
🗞️ Give Over’s Abolitionist Journalism Toolkit: Created by the Sheffield-based border abolition project Give Over, this guide is a must-read for journalists covering migration. It challenges harmful narratives and calls for a more just, humane approach to reporting.
🎧 IWS Radio: A podcast series produced by International Women* Space in Berlin. It centers the voices of refugee and migrant women in Germany. Based in Berlin, IWS is a feminist, anti-racist group of migrant women, refugee women and women without this experience.
✨ Quote of the Month
“What’s the greatest lesson a woman should learn? That since day one, she’s already had everything she needs within herself. It’s the world that convinced her she did not.”
— Rupi Kaur, Indian poet, illustrator, photographer, and author.
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Just Came across your stack, and I love what you are doing here! This feels uplifting, authentic, and welcoming. Would love to connect with you.😌❤️🇹🇹