We are proud to announce that The Quint has won an award in the category 'Best Use of Visual Journalism and Storytelling Tools (National Brands)' for our investigative, multimedia story 'Patriarchy’s Silent Hand: The Hidden Pressure on Women to Become Organ Donors', at the International News Media Association (INMA) Global Media Awards 2025. The story won third place.
The project — by Mythreyee Ramesh and Meenakshy Sasikumar, formerly at The Quint — stemmed from a revealing statistic shared by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation: between 1995 and 2021, four out of five organ donors in India were women, and four out of five recipients were men. This sharp gender skew led us to dig deeper into how gender and patriarchy influence medical decision-making within families — especially around living organ donation.
This story was hidden in plain sight. While stories of Indian women donating organs to family members abound, similar examples involving men are far less common. We sought to explore whether this imbalance was purely coincidental or reflected deeper social expectations and pressure.
One of the biggest challenges we faced during this investigation was the absence of centralised data on living organ donors in India. To bridge this gap, our health reporters worked closely with top nephrologists across three major Indian hospitals, sitting in on hospital visits and interviewing doctors, donors, recipients, and their families.
The result was a deeply human, visual narrative — one that embedded personal video testimonies, illustrated case studies from different age, income, and geographic groups, and striking data visualisations. The immersive format allowed readers to engage with the issue at both an emotional and systemic level.
We featured women like a Bengaluru-based professional who donated a kidney to her father-in-law shortly after giving birth, and a middle-class homemaker who donated part of her liver to her husband despite the strain on her own health and finances. These were not isolated incidents — they reflected a broader pattern.
Women are often seen as caregivers and are more likely to be viewed as “suitable donors” due to biological compatibility and social expectation. Their unpaid caregiving role often means long recovery periods are overlooked, and they are less likely to receive an organ if the need arises.
The immersive experience was a collaboration between our editorial and multimedia teams. It featured subtle, evocative illustrations by a woman illustrator, powerful animations, and infographics based on hospital-collected data. Every element of the visual storytelling was designed to foreground the often invisible cost women bear in the name of familial duty.
We’re honoured that this story — one of our most ambitious multimedia projects — has been recognised at the INMA Global Media Awards 2025. It reflects our continued commitment to uncovering hidden inequalities and using innovative storytelling tools to create journalism that informs, engages, and drives impact.
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