For International Women’s Day 2024, We Animals (WA) is putting the focus on women in animal photojournalism (APJ) and celebrating the hard work of women around the globe who are leading the charge for animals with a camera in hand.
We asked what being an animal photojournalist means to them. Watch our short video to hear what they had to say.
“Women’s work is historically less noticed and celebrated but the animal advocacy movement is made up of 60 to 80 percent women. I’m really proud that we’re building an international community of photojournalists. We’re building a community of support and celebration and learning.” — Jo-Anne McArthur, We Animals Founder
The lack of gender diversity in photojournalism has been an issue since its inception and part of a wider diversity issue in photojournalism. But we’re starting to see a shift in the gender divide as more women are documenting the issues they care about.
A wonderful example of this is at We Animals itself. Not only was our photojournalism agency female-founded, our network of international photojournalists is made up of 68 percent women. Women are a driving force behind animal photojournalism!
“When we think of animals in the media, we usually think of wild animals, but we generally fail to realize how underrepresented the actual majority of the animals are.” — Selene Magnolia, animal photojournalist
“The stories I work on might be difficult for me personally at times and also for someone seeing those visuals. But I think it is the need of the hour to create awareness and mindset change… It is important for me to document these ignored, misunderstood and misrepresented stories, which are actually all interconnected.” — S. Chakrabarti, animal photojournalist and filmmaker
“Why do I think that women are leading this field? I think there’s probably a lot of reasons. One of them could be because we finally have role models because we see other women in this field and other women doing this work, and it encourages us to do the same.” — Amy Jones, animal photojournalist
Feeling inspired?
Learn more about animal photojournalism and We Animals’s work:
- Read our introductory explainer, What is Animal Photojournalism? and check out these APJ resources
- Register for the We Animals Photography Masterclass
- Find out how to become a We Animals contributor
Did you know? Our stock platform offers 30,000+ photos and video clips of animal issues around the globe. Non-commercial (free) and commercial licensing available.