IFEX members and other rights groups around the world are standing up for women journalists in Yemen, along with other women writers and activists who speak out for their rights in the face of repression.

It is not easy to be a woman working in the media in Yemen, according to a report by ARTICLE 19 in collaboration with the Yemeni Female Media Forum.

Critical female journalists are regularly subjected to public slander in rival publications, harassed by the state or censored. In a country with a rigid code of "honour", insults are particularly damaging for women struggling to achieve prominence in their professional life.

This is on top of discrimination against women in the Yemeni media, who are writing fewer than 20 percent of articles and being sourced only 30 percent of the time, says ARTICLE 19.

In the Americas, International PEN's Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) has profiled four women who continue to write in the face of great personal risk from another part of the world: Latin America.

There's Colombian playwright and activist Patricia Ariza and Peruvian student poet Melissa Patiño, who have been accused of being terrorists because of their alleged collaboration with left-wing groups. Mexican authors and journalists Lydia Cacho and Sanjuana Martínez Montemayor have been harassed as a direct result of their exposés of sexual exploitation and paedophilia.

WiPC is asking you to protest the harassment and demand that they are allowed to live and work freely. Find out more about the writers, including samples of their work and how you can help, here.

Also see WiPC's Freedom to Write in the Americas campaign: tinyurl.com/aopdxk

International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) says women are portrayed in the media worldwide in stereotypes, such as "the glamorous sex kitten, the sainted mother, the devious witch, the hard-faced corporate and political climber." So how to address gender discrimination in the media?

IFJ, in conjunction with UNESCO, has produced a 60-page booklet that provides guidelines to journalists and unionists on ways of bringing gender equality into the journalism profession mainstream.

Some quick tips: map your workplace to see if women occupy leadership roles. Share your results - "the more publicity, the more likely it is to change mindsets," the guide says. Do a pay audit to find out whether there is a gender pay gap at work. Ask for flexible time at work, which allows a person to choose working hours that suit.

Finally, tune in online to the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) for 24 hours' worth of multilingual programming for women, by women all over the world. Find out how Afghan women are propping up the Afghan economy, or how International Women's Day is celebrated in Central Asia. The best part is, you can rebroadcast a programme on your community radio station for free. See: march8.amarc.org