“Quiet, piggy”: misogynistic attacks as a tool to silence women journalists and how we fight back
Fri 17 April 2026
15:00
Free
Calculating distance...
Gendered attacks on women journalists are nothing new. President Trump however has taken misogynistic vitriol to a new level during his second term, heckling women covering the White House with insults like piggy, not smart enough, and a terrible person. When these words come from the head of government, they can unleash a torrent of abuse – both online and in real life – against the targeted journalist. And although it has become a regular occurrence, we cannot normalise this pernicious pattern of abuse.
This session examines the ways that political leaders wield misogyny globally to chill free speech and undermine press freedom, and what the journalism support community must do to fight back in support of their colleagues under fire.
Introduction by Kathy Im.
Moderated by Elisa Lees Muñoz.
Organised in association with the International Women’s Media Foundation and the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Modified more than a month ago
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Soraya Chemaly
Soraya Chemaly is an award-winning author and activist. As a cultural critic, she writes and speaks frequently about gender norms, social justice, free speech, sexualized violence, politics, and technology. The former Executive Director of The Representation Project and Director and co-founder of the Women’s Media Center Speech Project, she has long been committed to expanding women’s civic and political participation. Soraya’s most recently released book, All We Want is Everything: How We Dismantle Male Supremacy, has been called “a potent rallying cry for a beleaguered feminist movement.” In it, she challenges dearly held beliefs about gender and equality today, drawing clear lines between the dynamics of intimate inequality and global anti-feminist, anti-democratic backlash and machofascism. Her first book, Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger, was recognized as a Best Book of 2018 by the Washington Post, Fast Company, Psychology Today, and NPR and has been translated into multiple languages. She is a contributor to several anthologies, most recently Free Speech in the Digital Age and Believe Me: How Trusting Women Can Change The World. Soraya is also a co-producer of a WMC #NameItChangeIt PSA highlighting the effects of online harassment on women in politics in America. Her work is featured widely in media, documentaries, books, and academic research. As an activist, Ms. Chemaly also spearheaded several successful global campaigns challenging corporations to address online hate and harassment, restrictive content moderation and censorship, and institutional biases that undermine equity and negatively affect free speech. Prior to 2010, Ms. Chemaly spent more than fifteen years as an executive and consultant in the media and data technology industries.
Juliana Dal Piva
Juliana Dal Piva is a journalist with a degree from UFSC and a master's degree from the Center for Research and Documentation of Contemporary Brazilian History at FGV-Rio. She is currently a reporter for the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP) and a columnist for ICL Notícias. She was a special reporter for the newspaper O Globo and a columnist for the UOL portal. She has won several journalism awards, including the Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression award from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the OAS in 2019. She hosts the podcast The Secret Life of Jair and coordinates the podcast No Alvo (On Target) on ICL Notícias. Author of the books Jair's Business: The Forbidden History of the Bolsonaro Clan a bestseller in 2022 and a finalist for the 2023 Jabuti Prize, the biggest literature prize in Brazil, and also of Crime Without Punishment: How the Military Killed Rubens Paiva, published by Matrix in 2025, also on Veja magazine's bestseller list. In 2025, she was honored with the Courage in Journalism award from the International Women's Media Foundation.
Kathy Im
Kathy Im is the Director of Journalism and Media at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation where she manages a $30 million annual portfolio that invests in the creation, dissemination, and amplification of accurate, just, and inclusive news and narratives across three areas of media -- Professional Nonprofit Reporting, Nonfiction Multimedia Storytelling, and Participatory Civic Media. She was instrumental in the creation and launch of Press Forward, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Media Forward Fund for the DACH countries. Kathy is also Chair of the Advisory Board for the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and previously, she was a board member of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Media Impact Funders, and the Center for Asian American Media, and a former juror for the Peabody Awards.
Elisa Lees Munoz
Elisa Lees Muñoz is the Executive Director of the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF), a role she has held since 2013. Elisa leads the organization to achieve its mission to support women journalists and develop their careers by providing training, tools and assistance. She is charged with growing the IWMF by expanding its programs into new geographies, introducing new initiatives, partnering with peer organizations, securing diverse organizational funding, and driving communications and outreach to core constituents. Elisa’s more than two decades at the IWMF have made her a leading expert on the intersections between gender equity and press freedom. She is a relentless advocate for women journalists, striving to prioritize their voices in all press freedom conversations. Elisa knows progress stands still when gender diverse perspectives are excluded – and that often it takes a woman-led, woman-focused organization to drive the industry forward. Elisa currently oversees a team of more than 15 individuals dedicated to supporting gender diverse journalists. This growing capacity enables the IWMF to respond with immediacy to the issues women and nonbinary journalists face in today’s world, meeting the moment with adaptability and urgency. Elisa also recognizes that gender equity cannot be achieved in a vacuum, reinforcing the IWMF’s commitment to uplifting journalists at all intersections of their identities. Elisa has been a human rights activist since graduating from the University of Maryland with an MA degree in International Relations. With more than 15 years of nonprofit management experience, she is an expert in philanthropy, coalition building, fundraising and organizational development.
Karyn Maughan
Karyn Maughan is an award-winning legal journalist at News24 in Johannesburg. She has reported on South Africa’s most high-profile court cases, including the murder trial of Paralympian Oscar Pistorius. In 2022, former President Jacob Zuma tried to privately prosecute Maughan for reporting on court documents he insisted were confidential. Zuma argued Maughan should face 15 years in prison for this alleged crime. That case was invalidated by multiple courts, which found that Zuma’s attempts to jail Maughan were part of his abusive campaign to silence her journalism.