The Gender Council of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has elected a new board for the 2026-2029 term, with Ms María Ángeles Samperio of Federación de Asociaciones de la Prensa Española (FAPE, Spain) re-elected as Chairperson for the third consecutive term. FAPE Spain is a professional federation that brings together regional and local associations of journalists across Spain.
At the heart of the IFJ’s work lies the fight for gender equality, led by its Steering Committee, the Gender Council, which is responsible for guiding the Federation’s policies and projects on gender equality, with a work, unionism, and journalism ethics perspective. Its elected members are journalists and activists from all over the world committed to advancing gender equality in journalism and the trade union movement.
The IFJ Gender Council is a non-political group that meets in person at IFJ’s Global Congresses and during its mid-term meeting. The Council’s objectives are to engage women and men equally in all IFJ affairs and at all levels of the organisation and its member unions; advise the IFJ Executive Committee and member unions on proposals for policies, projects, and actions needed to prioritise gender issues in the IFJ’s work; promote solidarity and support among IFJ’s affiliates in defending gender rights, and combat all forms of gender discrimination.
The Gender Council’s Steering Committee, composed of 11 members, was elected during a one-week online voting process, which ended on April 12, 2026, at 8 pm CET.
The newly elected members of the IFJ Gender Council are: María Ángeles Samperio (FAPE, Spain), re-elected as Chairperson for a third consecutive term; Samim Sultana Ahdmed (IJU, India), who was an elected Regional Coordinator for Asia-Pacific in the previous term, but is now elected as the new Vice-Chair; and Williette James (SLAJ, Sierra Leone) as the new Gender Council’s secretary.
Those newly elected as Regional Coordinators for this term are: Samira de Castro Cunha (FENAJ, Brazil) and Alicia Ortega (APU, Uruguay) for Latin America and the Caribbean; Kadiatou Thierno Diallo (AJG, Guinea) and Patrica Adjisseku (UJIT, Togo) for Africa; Manuela Bermudez (CFDT, France) and Domenica Mima Caligaris (FNSI, Italy) for Europe; and Javeria Siddique (PFUJ, Pakistan) and Nurul Nur Azizah (AJI, Indonesia) for Asia-Pacific.
IFJ Gender Council Chair, María Ángeles Samperio, thanking the members for re-electing her and welcoming them to a new term, said: “The Gender Council has a crucial task ahead in the coming years, which is to support women journalists around the world and ensure that IFJ affiliates prioritise and implement a new strategy to advance gender equality within their own organisations”.
Samperio added, “I am delighted by the support received for this new term, and by the fact that the Gender Council’s Steering Committee has a broad geographical representation, with its newly elected members eager to start working. Our task must be to contribute to building a stronger IFJ that reaffirms its commitment to gender equality, journalism, and journalists at the upcoming Centenary Congress in Paris”.
Established in 1926, the IFJ is the world’s largest organisation of journalists, representing 600,000 media professionals from 187 trade unions and associations in more than 140 countries.
