MEDIA AND GENDER: A STEREOTYPICAL AFFAIR

Abstract

Media play important roles in society. They report on current events, provide frameworks for interpretation, mobilize citizens with regard to various issues, reproduce predominant culture and society, and entertain (Llanos and Nina, 2011). As such, the media can be an important factor in the promotion of gender equality, both within the working environment (in terms of employment and promotion of female staff at all levels) and in the representation of women and men (in terms of fair gender portrayal and the use of neutral and non-gender specific language). Media is an important area of study since it has the power to represent what is socially acceptable (Carter & Steiner 2004). If you watch television, walk on the street, wait for the bus or do other things, you are always confronted by images of men and women. In movies, television series and advertisements you see these images and they may influence you consciously or subconsciously. Since media is such a big part of people's everyday lives, and is some ways may influence how people perceive themselves and the world, it is interesting to see how representations in movies portray gender. These images, whether it is known or not, may have an important impact upon people's lives and how people create their identities. It is highly improbable to think that the media does not affect people, their way of thinking, and the way they perceive the world and themselves (Gauntlett 2008, p. 1-3). Therefore, the main idea of this paper is attempting to see how gender is represented in media by loosely using different types of data analysis. Based on previous research in the field of gender studies in media, it has been argued that men and women are viewed differently, and this view lives on in how they continue to be represented/ characterized/framed etc within different forms of media. Studies on gender roles in media show that women are underrepresented in movies, and that they are represented in a different way than men. Gender studies in media are a wide topic of research that includes many different types of media: prime-time television, radio and more recently, the internet. It is a constantly growing field of study and is important for many reasons. Gender studies in media mostly concern the feminine perspective, and how women are portrayed. Mostly it focuses on the negative aspects of women 's portrayal, rarely the positive. It rarely pays attention to how men are portrayed. If at all it is mentioned but not discussed to the same length. Furthermore, media and gender are a big area that constantly produces new data that can be gathered and analysed in various ways. The gender roles that we are presented with on a regular basis are still lagging behind in terms of showing better representations of gender equality. Studies have found that although the number of 122 women working in the media has been increasing globally, the top positions (producers, executives, chief editors and publishers) are still very male dominated (White, 2009). This disparity is particularly evident in Africa, where cultural impediments to women fulfilling the role of journalist remain (e.g. travelling away from home, evening work and covering issues such as politics and sports which are considered to fall within the masculine domain) (Myers, 2009). The Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) reports that throughout the world, female journalists are more likely to be assigned '‘soft' subjects such as family, lifestyle, fashion and arts. The ‘hard' news, politics and the economy, is much less likely to be written or covered by women. The level of participation and influence of women in the media also has implications for media content: female media professionals are more likely to reflect other women's needs and perspectives than their male colleagues. It is important to acknowledge, however, that not all women working in the media will be gender aware and prone to cover women's needs and perspectives; and it is not impossible for men to effectively cover gender issues. Recent research from 18 disparate countries shows that male and female journalists' attitudes do not differ significantly (Hanitzsch & Hanusch, 2012). Nonetheless, the presence of women on the radio, television and in print is more likely to provide positive role models for women and girls, to gain the confidence of women as sources and interviewees, and to attract a female audience.