In this RISJ factsheet we analyse the gender breakdown of top editors in a strategic sample of 240 major online and offline news outlets in 12 different markets across four continents. Looking at a sample of 10 top online news outlets and 10 top offline news outlets in each of these 12 markets, we find:

• Only 22% of the 180 top editors across the 240 brands covered are women, despite the fact that, on average, 40% of journalists in the 12 markets are women. Looking only at the 10 markets we covered in 2020 and again in 2021, 23% of top editors are women, the same percentage as last year.

• Looking exclusively at the 178 brands included both this year and last year, the percentage of women among the top editors has changed from 22% in 2020 to 24% in 2021. Among 37 new top editors across these brands, 16% of these are women. (There were 14% women among the outgoing top editors.)

• In 11 out of 12 markets, the majority of top editors are men, including countries like Brazil and Finland where women outnumber men among working journalists. (In South Africa, 62% of journalists and 60% of top editors in our sample are women.)