Representation of Women in the News: Balancing between Career and Family Life
An in-depth literature review showed that women, despite their increasingly prominent roles worldwide, continue to be persistently underrepresented and stereotyped in news media. This study aimed to investigate the extent to which the representation of women changed over time in two Dutch-speaking B...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cogitatio
2019-02-01
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| Series: | Media and Communication |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/1627 |
| _version_ | 1818177057261092864 |
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| author | Hanne Vandenberghe |
| author_facet | Hanne Vandenberghe |
| author_sort | Hanne Vandenberghe |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | An in-depth literature review showed that women, despite their increasingly prominent roles worldwide, continue to be persistently underrepresented and stereotyped in news media. This study aimed to investigate the extent to which the representation of women changed over time in two Dutch-speaking Belgian newspapers De Standaard and Het Laatste Nieuws. An automated quantitative content analysis revealed that there is no increase of the number of women in the newspapers between 2005 and 2015. On the contrary, women are significantly less represented over time in the popular newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. A qualitative analysis on two cases about women stepping into a leadership position—in 2012 (Catherine De Bolle as head of the Federal police) and in 2014 (Dominique Leroy as CEO of a Belgian telecom company)—showed that the press emphasised their femininity, their being a role model for other women, their being part of a family and having certain looks. Moreover, these women are clearly portrayed as ‘the best candidate’ pointing at the selection procedures and their capabilities to perform professionally. Probably, this strong emphasis is a way of justifying that these women are not selected because of positive discrimination. Further analysis of cases of both men and women stepping into top positions across countries and media platforms is recommended. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T20:26:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f63dcff576a7435cac735ad7d87c35ec |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2183-2439 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T20:26:02Z |
| publishDate | 2019-02-01 |
| publisher | Cogitatio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Media and Communication |
| spelling | doaj.art-f63dcff576a7435cac735ad7d87c35ec2022-12-22T00:51:58ZengCogitatioMedia and Communication2183-24392019-02-017141210.17645/mac.v7i1.1627949Representation of Women in the News: Balancing between Career and Family LifeHanne Vandenberghe0Institute for Media Studies, KU Leuven, BelgiumAn in-depth literature review showed that women, despite their increasingly prominent roles worldwide, continue to be persistently underrepresented and stereotyped in news media. This study aimed to investigate the extent to which the representation of women changed over time in two Dutch-speaking Belgian newspapers De Standaard and Het Laatste Nieuws. An automated quantitative content analysis revealed that there is no increase of the number of women in the newspapers between 2005 and 2015. On the contrary, women are significantly less represented over time in the popular newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. A qualitative analysis on two cases about women stepping into a leadership position—in 2012 (Catherine De Bolle as head of the Federal police) and in 2014 (Dominique Leroy as CEO of a Belgian telecom company)—showed that the press emphasised their femininity, their being a role model for other women, their being part of a family and having certain looks. Moreover, these women are clearly portrayed as ‘the best candidate’ pointing at the selection procedures and their capabilities to perform professionally. Probably, this strong emphasis is a way of justifying that these women are not selected because of positive discrimination. Further analysis of cases of both men and women stepping into top positions across countries and media platforms is recommended.https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/1627content analysisDutch-speaking pressgendernewsrepresentationstereotypingwomen |
| spellingShingle | Hanne Vandenberghe Representation of Women in the News: Balancing between Career and Family Life Media and Communication content analysis Dutch-speaking press gender news representation stereotyping women |
| title | Representation of Women in the News: Balancing between Career and Family Life |
| title_full | Representation of Women in the News: Balancing between Career and Family Life |
| title_fullStr | Representation of Women in the News: Balancing between Career and Family Life |
| title_full_unstemmed | Representation of Women in the News: Balancing between Career and Family Life |
| title_short | Representation of Women in the News: Balancing between Career and Family Life |
| title_sort | representation of women in the news balancing between career and family life |
| topic | content analysis Dutch-speaking press gender news representation stereotyping women |
| url | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/1627 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hannevandenberghe representationofwomeninthenewsbalancingbetweencareerandfamilylife |