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Rethink The News NADJA is an online platform that reports the world through the eyes of women. Stories of women of the past that have shaped our present.

We have a passion for discovering, questioning and sharing amazing stories from around the world. Stories of women of our time who are shaking up their fields, leading the way and creating our future – giving us a glimpse of where the world is going

18/12/2025

The headline is the first — and quite often the only — part of an article people read. The placement and choice of words can make a huge difference on the impression readers take away from it.

Consider these two headlines. For context, the UK government has announced a plan to halve the rate of violence against women and girls over the next decade. It includes measures to improve support for victims and to provide resources for teachers and parents to teach boys from a young age about the harms of misogynistic views.

The policy comes at a moment of growing gender polarisation. A recent study found that the UK has the widest ideological divide in Europe: young women tend to hold centre-left views, while young men are moving sharply to the right, with increasing exposure to anti-feminist content and influencers who promote misogynistic ideas.

Against this backdrop, the BBC published a news story about the strategy under this headline:

'Boys to be target of UK’s violence against women strategy'

This framing is problematic.

- ‘Target’ is a loaded word that suggests an accusatory tone
- It also sets up a conflict: boys vs government policy / women

People who don’t read further may think the government is singling out boys as offenders instead of including them in positive prevention work.

In an already polarised environment, this kind of wording risks provoking a defensive backlash among the very group the strategy seeks to engage, undermining its aims.

Now consider headline 2:

'Schools to teach about healthy relationships to tackle violence against girls'

This uses neutral language, and emphasises education and prevention. Rather than conflict, it suggests an inclusive approach to tackling the problem, highlighting 'healthy relationships' between boys and girls.

11/12/2025

South Africa has categorised violence against women as a ‘national disaster’ – but what comes next?

The country has some of the highest rates of gender-based violence in the world, with femicide five times the global average.

The government has now invoked the Disaster Management Act, which allows faster coordination, emergency intervention and more flexible funding.

Non-profit organisations dedicated to supporting survivors have welcomed the news as a chance to to strengthen policies and community services.

Speaking at a men’s meeting as part of the UN's 16 Days of Activism to End Gender-based Violence campaign, President Cyril Ramaphosa called on men to examine their attitudes toward women, stating that South Africa will not end the epidemic of gender-based violence unless men take responsibility.

He also called for more open discussions on societal pressures men face that contribute to violent behaviour, such as unemployment, substance abuse and school dropouts.

Tech-based approaches to support victims and survivors are also emerging, such as the GRIT app (an acronym for Gender Rights In Tech) which has a panic button that notifies a rapid response team that dispatches help within five minutes. To tackle digital violence, AI chatbot Kemi provides resources to women who have experienced online abuse such as images shared without their consent.

Meanwhile researcher Lucé Pretorius has asked how the people tasked with responding to incidents of violence will be kept safe. Writing in The Conversation, she noted that women make up a large proportion of the social services workforce, facing higher rates of threats and physical aggression than men when intervening in domestic violence and child protection cases. “South Africa cannot reduce gender-based violence and femicide without acknowledging this reality: its frontline workforce is absorbing the immediate impact of the crisis,” she said.

Photo credits:
Cover & slide 2 by Discott, CC BY-SA 4.0
Slide 3: by Palácio do Planalto, CC BY 2.0

10/12/2025

“Nudifiers” — AI-based tools that convert photos into nudes, commonly used on images of women without their consent — are rapidly growing their audiences, fuelled in part by ads running on major tech platforms.

Research by The Indicator found that one of the most prominent nudifier websites received 1.98 million visits in October 2025, double its monthly average from December 2024 to May 2025.

Ten similar sites attracted more than 10 million visits in October 2025, up 4% from the previous six months.

Between September and October this year, The Indicator identified 9,156 ads for 11 different nudifying tools on Facebook and Instagram. While these were eventually removed they were allowed to run on the platforms, bringing the total number of ads for nudifiers that researchers uncovered this year on Meta to more than 25,000.

One nudifying app even has a blue badge on X, a paid for verification checkmark given to accounts that meet the platform’s eligibility criteria.
Some apps can also be downloaded from the Apple and Google stores.

Non-consensual pornographic images make up between 90 to 95% of all online deepfakes according to research company Sensity, with around 90% featuring women.

Pornographic videos account for 98% of all deepfake videos, and 99% of the individuals targeted are women.

A study by cybersecurity firm Home Security Heroes has found that the total number of deepfake videos online rose by 550% between 2019 and 2023.

02/12/2025

More than half (58%) of girls and young women around the world have experienced some form of online harassment, in some cases as early as age 8. The majority experience it for the first time between the ages of 14 and 16.

Sexual harassment and stalking are the most commonly reported. Non-consensual sharing of intimate images, unwanted messages and phone calls, and abusive comments are the most frequent tactics.

Additionally AI is exacerbating online violence. Between 90-95% of all online deepfakes are non-consensual pornographic images of women. However less than 40% of countries have laws protecting women from cyber harassment or cyber stalking.

These are some of the stats highlighted in UN Women’s 16Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign, this year focused on digital violence.

The campaign also shows that women facing overlapping discrimination, for example women with disabilities, women of colour, migrants, and LGBTQ people face even greater risks.

Activists, politicians, and journalists are targeted heavily too, with 73% of women journalists having experienced online violence.

UN Women’s briefing recommends developing regulation with input from survivors, adding ethical use of digital tools to school curricula, and greater investment in empowering women and girls to design safe digital tools and spaces.

👉 What changes do you want to see happen to make digital spaces safer for women and girls?

21/11/2025

Author and activist Rivera Sun spoke to our editor Leila Hawkins about the power of non-violent resistance, from the lunch counter sit-ins of the civil rights movement to today’s pushback against the aggressive deportation raids targeting immigrant communities in the US.

👉 Scroll through for excerpts of the interview.

🔗 Read the full article via the link in our bio.

15/11/2025

Throwback to when we were "book of the month" at IE University's feminist library!

Guidance counsellor Yone Zubiaurre recommended us for the university's Purple Corner, a library dedicated to gender equality.

👀 Check out what she had to say about us.

12/11/2025

Protests are underway at COP30 to call for an end to the deforestation of the Amazon and oil and gas exploration projects that threaten the way of life Indigenous communities.

Among these is the ‘Answer Caravan’ flotilla, travelling along the main land and river export corridor of the soy industry, gathering food donated by small-scale farmers to supply the ‘People’s Summit’ at COP30.

Thousands are expected to take part in the summit, aiming to ensure grassroots groups and Indigenous peoples are a part of COP30 rather than corporations alone.

Almost 300 banks helped channel $138 billion to companies expanding oil operations in Latin America and the Caribbean between 2022 and 2024, according to a report co-published by Amazon Watch and environmental non-profits based in Germany, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. Santander, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup are the top three banks involved.

The study highlights that oil and gas blocks overlap with 1,647 Indigenous territories, including lands where Indigenous peoples live in voluntary isolation.

“Community leaders are threatened, attacked and sometimes even killed for defending their land against oil and gas extraction,” it notes. “Frequent oil spills from pipelines and refineries poison rivers and streams, endangering downstream communities, small-scale fishers and municipal water supplies.

“Air pollution from the combustion of fossil fuels causes more than 320,000 premature deaths in Latin America each year and is responsible for a wide range of illnesses, especially in children under 5, pregnant women and the elderly.”

A UN report published in April this year stated that Indigenous peoples safeguard 80% of the planet's remaining biodiversity, yet receive less than 1% of international climate funding.

Photo credits:

Tatiana Pardo Ibarra
Coletivo Apoena Audiovisual

09/11/2025

💡 Can online speech trigger real-world violence — even when it’s not hate speech?

A study published in the scientific journal PNAS Nexus explores the relationship between online speech and real-world violence in India.

The data:

🔹 Analysed 22.4 million posts from Koo, an Indian social media network popular among India’s Hindu nationalists, between 2020 and 2022.

🔹 This was combined with records of attacks on religious minorities for the same period.

🔹 It showed that the use of certain hashtags correlated with an increase in attacks on Muslims and Christians, even if these are not explicitly classified as hate speech.

🔹 During internet outages these links disappeared, suggesting a direct connection between online speech and offline harm.

One example was the frequency of the use of "Jai Shri Ram" on Koo, which matched a rise in attacks against religious minorities in the 10 states of India’s Hindi Belt.

“Jai Shri Ram,” meaning “Glory to Lord Ram,” is a traditional Hindu expression of faith. The study explains that the phrase became politicised after a 1992 incident in which Hindu activists demolished a mosque at a disputed religious site. It has since been adopted as a slogan by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The study's authors conclude that the debate on what kinds of online speech influence offline harm must be broadened, as traditional moderation tools can’t capture posts that don’t break content rules, but still shape behaviour in divided societies.

❓ How can platforms and policymakers address posts that fuel division, without suppressing genuine cultural or religious expression?

28/10/2025

Coverage of femicides and violence against women often reinforces stereotyping and victim-blaming, instead of questioning the root causes of the crimes.

Responsible reporting means:

☑️ Following the Do No Harm principle: considering how your reporting and the published article will impact survivors, women at risk, and grieving families, taking care not to cause further trauma.

☑️ Checking for and minimising bias in your reporting, ensuring you’re not repeating stereotypes.

22/10/2025

The Latvian government is considering withdrawing from the Istanbul Convention, the first legally binding international treaty aimed at preventing violence against women.

Latvia ratified the convention in 2023, but lawmakers have now initiated a process that could result in its withdrawal. The treaty defines and condemns various forms of gender-based violence including stalking, sexual harassment, sexual and physical abuse by intimate partners, psychological violence, forced marriage, and forced sterilisation, recognising that it is the obligation of governments to address these.

In 2021 Turkey became the first country to withdraw from the treaty, arguing that it undermines "family values" and "normalises homosexuality."

Women’s rights activists in Latvia have protested the potential withdrawal, demonstrating outside parliament.

**
Image credits

Slide 2: Linda Liepiņa, leader of Latvia First by Saeima, CC BY-SA 2.0

Slide 4: Protest against withdrawal from Istanbul Convention in Turkey by Hilmi Hacaloğlu, public domain

16/10/2025

The Church of England has announced that Sarah Mullally will become the next Archbishop of Canterbury, the very first time the role goes to a woman in its centuries-long history.

The role of is still considered to be of great significance in the UK, serving as a spiritual leader for the Church of England. And while women have been able to become bishops since 2014, this appointment marks the first time a woman has risen to its highest office.

One particular piece of media coverage in Sky News caught our attention, under the headline: “Woman named as new Archbishop of Canterbury in historic first.”

The original standfirst read:

“The 63-year-old archbishop-designate is married to Eamonn Mullally, with whom she has two children. Originally from Woking in Surrey, she was the UK's chief nursing officer from 1999 to 2004.”

This is problematic because there is no reason for her marriage to figure so prominently in the article. Eamonn Mullally is a now-retired IT and Enterprise Architect. He may well have had an impressive career, but we fail to see the relevance to this story.

Thankfully, the standfirst was swiftly amended to say:

“Sarah Mullally, the 63-year-old archbishop-designate, is originally from Woking in Surrey, and was the UK's chief nursing officer from 1999 to 2004.”

But the headline remains unchanged, and is also problematic. We agree that it’s still big news that the role has been given to a woman for the first time, however in 2025, it shouldn’t be. We will only move closer to normalising gender equality in leadership when the language we use reflects that.

Some better alternatives would be:

✔️ Sarah Mullally named as new Archbishop of Canterbury in historic first
✔️ Sarah Mullally is first woman to be appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury

After all, if the point is that she is the first woman to be “named” to the role, why not lead with her name?

10/10/2025

For World Mental Health Day, we're sharing an article from our archive on caring for yourself during turbulent times.

Author Leila Hawkins reminds us to:

✨ Be understanding of where our negative emotions come from, instead of trying to fix them.
✨ Prioritise self-care as much as caring for other people.
✨ Avoid letting the boundaries between home and work get blurred — that way lies burnout.
✨ And finally, turn off the news — and talk to people you love instead.

Read more via the link in our bio.

📸 Images:

Cover: How to Mind Map by zipckr, CC BY 2.0

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Our Story

Co-founded by Alia Chebbab and Leila Hawkins, NADJA is an innovative digital news platform that reports the world through the eyes of women. We aim to redefine news from women’s perspectives and focus on women who are changing the world. Launched in 2016, NADJA gives a fresh and unique approach to news rather than competing with other outlets on breaking news.

We believe women play an active role in shaping our world and our future, and deserve to have their voices heard.

Did you know that women make up only 24% of the news, exactly as they did in 2010? Only 19% of online news stories focus specifically on women, and as little as 4% of the stories clearly challenge stereotypes. The media is a powerful tool in influencing how we make sense of the world, and often how we act. But they lack the richness of women’s perspectives and depict an incomplete and discordant reality.

By shining a light on the women who made and are making a difference every day we aspire to contribute to a greater and fairer representation of women in the media.