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15 Representations of Gender in the Media

Erica L. Scharrer, Department of Communication, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA

• Published: 28 January 2013
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Individuals young and old can learn a great deal from the ways in which men and women and boys and girls are depicted in the media. Alongside other socializing influences such as family and peers, the media help form perceptions of gender roles, and can shape the behaviors that stem from those perceptions. This chapter first reviews the evidence from content analysis research to determine the most prevalent patterns in gender representations in the media, with particular emphasis on television, video games, advertising, and magazine content. It then connects the themes that emerged in the content analysis literature—underrepresentation of women, depictions of physical appearance, domestic roles, and professional roles—to studies measuring the influence of such media depictions. In doing so, the topics of gender role socialization and body image disturbance are discussed, and the social implications of such media effects are identified.

Introduction

The media are among the most important socializing agents of the modern era, informing audiences directly and indirectly of cultural norms, beliefs, and expectations. With both adults and children spending vast and increasing amounts of time with various media forms, the media join the ranks of parents, other family members, friends, and others in shaping individuals’ perceptions of the world around them and their position within. Audience members learn a great deal about what is valued and accepted in the culture (and what is less so) from the media, and identities can form and reform from what is gleaned from the characters and other individuals who populate the programs on television and the advertisements between and within them, the pages of magazines, web sites and social media, and video and computer games.

Chief among the various messages communicated to audiences through media are messages about gender. Witnessing the men and women and boys and girls who appear on television and in other media forms, including what they say, what they do, what they look like, and how they interact, can help form audience members’ views of gender roles and their corresponding conceptions of themselves and others. The media can thus shape perceptions of masculinity and femininity, attitudes regarding gender roles (including what is deemed acceptable for girls and women or for boys and men) and behaviors that derive from these conceptions.

The socialization of gender roles is an especially important topic of scholarly inquiry. Very young children begin to develop a sense of themselves and others based on biological sex and socially constructed gender. These conceptions are likely to shift and reshape as children mature, primarily in adolescence as identity is in flux. Yet, adults too are guided by their own perceptions of gender roles. From division of household chores to beliefs about occupations, and from views of one's own attractiveness to ideas about romantic or familial roles, gender role conceptions can govern the daily lives of individuals young and old.

This chapter examines social science research on media representations of gender and the consequences of attending to these representations for the ideas, beliefs, and behavior of audiences. It begins by reviewing the most recent content analyses documenting patterns in gender portrayals, primarily on television, magazines, advertising, and video games, because the bulk of the research investigates these media types. Next, it synthesizes the body of research regarding media effects on gender role–related outcomes, including the experiments that show causal connections and the surveys that demonstrate correlations. In doing so, the chapter provides important insights into social norms for gender as reflected and shaped through media.

Content Analysis Research

What types of information might viewers receive from monitoring the media regarding what it means to be a boy or a girl, a man or a woman, in our society? The body of evidence from decades of content analysis research, a body that traces long-term, stable patterns as well as provides many important updates, answers that critical question. Content analysis research allows for systematic estimations of aggregate patterns in media content, thereby illuminating the most common themes. An overarching conclusion from media content research is that although one can point to some progress in wider and more encompassing gender roles, stereotypical portrayals persist.

Numbers of Characters

Women continue to be underrepresented on television and in other media forms compared with men on television and the actual population. The very first content analyses of television programming documented this pattern (Head, 1954 ) and the situation persisted through the 1970s, when there were approximately three male characters for every one female character on network television (Signorielli, 1985 ). There was some progress toward greater parity in the 1980s and through the 1990s, but even then the distribution of characters by gender was 60% in favor of males, and 40% females (Signorielli & Bacue, 1999 ). More recently, Greenberg and Worrell ( 2007 ) determined that female characters comprised on average just 39% of the new characters introduced each fall season by the networks between 1993 and 2004. Signorielli's ( 2013 ) analysis of an extensive database consisting of prime time broadcast network programming over time finds a 58% male, 42% female split that has characterized the last 10 years.

Although underrepresentation of women on television is the consistent conclusion from this research, studies show some variation according to genre as well as additional evidence of male dominance in other media types. The underrepresentation of female characters is particularly profound in drama and action-adventure programming and somewhat less so in situation comedies (Lauzen & Dozier, 1999 ; Signorielli & Bacue, 1999 ; Signorielli, 2013 ). A recent analysis of music videos from multiple music television networks found three times as many males as females (Turner, 2011 ). Within film rather than television, Smith, Pieper, Granados, and Choueiti ( 2010 ) conducted a content analysis of popular G-rated titles and found a 2.57:1 ratio in favor of males.

Among cartoons, a perennially popular aspect of children's programming, the tendency either mirrors or further distorts the favoring of male characters. The number of males outdistanced the number of females 58% to 42% among major characters in the sample of programs that had been labeled as satisfying the social/emotional aspect of the Children's Television Act analyzed by Barner ( 1999 ). Leaper, Breed, Hoffman, and Perlman ( 2002 ) discovered that male characters outnumbered female characters four to one in traditional adventure cartoons (e.g., Spiderman) , two to one in comedy cartoons (e.g., Animaniacs ), and 1.5 to one in educational/family cartoons (e.g., Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego, The Magic School Bus ). Most recently, Baker and Raney ( 2007 ) found an unequal distribution of superheroes in preference of males and Signorielli ( 2008 ) determined that the lopsided male-to-female ratio pervaded all Saturday morning cartoon types. In television as well as in film, therefore, implicit messages about who is privileged with a larger presence on the screen are sent to very young viewers and continue throughout general audience programming, as well.

The numbers are often even more uneven within the increasingly popular medium of video games. In an analysis of more than 1,000 ads appearing in video game fan magazines, Scharrer ( 2004 ) found males outnumbered females by 3 to 1. In the games themselves, Beasley and Collins Standley ( 2002 ) found 71.5% of all characters appearing in the first 20 minutes of game play were males and only 14% were females (the rest were gender indeterminate). Williams, Martins, Consalvo, and Ivory ( 2009 ) examined thousands of human characters in video games, and found males comprised 85.23% of all characters, 89.55% of primary characters, and 85.47% of secondary characters (after weighting by sales figures of the games so as to emphasize those most widely circulating). Downs and Smith ( 2010 ) studied top-grossing games for the most popular consoles and found males appeared more frequently within the games than females at a rate of approximately 7 to 1.

The overall tendency to overrepresent men compared with women is also consistent across race. A recent analysis found, for example, women comprised 45% of all prime time television characters of color, whereas men made up the remaining 55% (Signorielli, 2009a ). Both black/African-American female characters and Latino female characters tend to populate situation comedies more frequently than their male counterparts, who enjoy a wider array of roles across other program types (Signorielli, 2009a ). Thus, underrepresentation is both the overall condition for female characters and is exacerbated in particular genres for female characters of color. (See Chapter 13 for more research on race and ethnicity.)

Physical Appearance

The media present a narrow definition of attractiveness, emphasizing thinness as an essential component, particularly for females. On television, in the programs that are broadcast and the commercials between them, thinness and a narrow definition of attractiveness are presented as the overwhelming ideal. As evident in this section, content analysis research consistently finds that media characters are thinner than individuals in the actual population, thin characters tend to be portrayed more positively than less thin characters, and the emphasis on attractiveness and physical appearance—particularly for women but also for men—is profound.

Fouts and Burggraf ( 2002a ) found, for instance, characters on sitcoms underrepresent above-average weight individuals compared with population statistics, and overrepresent female underweight individuals. In a study of more than 1,000 primary characters on prime time television, Greenberg, Eastin, Hofschire, Lachlan, & Brownell ( 2003 ) found that overweight characters were also coded as less attractive, and they were less likely than their thinner counterparts to be shown dating, interacting with romantic partners, or engaging in sexual behavior. In an analysis of programming on Fox, the WB, and UPN (the latter two now merged but then separate networks), Glascock ( 2003 ) also determined that female characters were dressed more provocatively than male characters, calling attention to their attractiveness and sexuality. Thinness and sexuality appear to co-occur in televised depictions, therefore, and heavier characters are not typically shown as objects of romantic or sexual interest.

These emphases occur within particular television genres as well. Females were coded as more attractive than males in a study of Spanish-language prime time programming, for instance, and their appearance was emphasized to a greater degree in the narrative (Glascock & Ruggiero, 2004 ). A recent study of rap music videos by Zhang, Dixon, and Conrad ( 2010 ) found 51% of the female characters appearing were coded as thin, a percentage that was consistent across race. Thinness was associated with sexuality in the study, and because the US Centers for Disease Control estimates that just 24% of women in the actual population meet the clinical definition of “thin,” the finding points to a decided overrepresentation. In another study of music videos representing multiple musical genres, Turner ( 2011 ) found women were more likely than men and black characters more likely than white to be dressed provocatively.

In advertising, males outnumber females in commercials for all product types except health- and beauty-related and household products (Bartsch, Burnett, Diller, & Rankin-Williams, 2000 ; Ganahl, Prinsen, & Netzley, 2003 ), thereby establishing the association of femininity with beauty (as well as domestic roles). Female characters are typically younger than male characters and older women are the least visible group that appears in advertising (Ganahl et al., 2003 ). Stern and Mastro ( 2004 ) found further that young adult females were the most attractive as well as the thinnest group of characters appearing in television advertising, whereas older females were shown to be less attractive and heavier. In children's programming on Nickelodeon and Disney, Northrup and Liebler ( 2010 ) discovered a strong emphasis on a slender white body as the standard for beauty. Indeed, the tendency of media forms from advertising to video games and from magazines to music videos to present young women and girls in a sexualized manner that emphasizes not only thinness, but also presents them as objects for others’ sexual stimulation prompted the American Psychological Association to issue both a report on the topic and a call for more research into the phenomenon (APA, 2011 ).

The physical appearance of characters belonging to varying racial and gender groups has been compared in a number of content analyses of magazine advertising content, as well. Baker ( 2005 ) studied characters in ads appearing in magazines targeted primarily toward white women (e.g., Cosmopolitan ), white men (e.g., GQ ), black women (e.g., Essence ), and black men (e.g., Black Men ), and found white characters were more often shown as objectified (defined by a strong emphasis on their bodies and physical attributes and a de-emphasis on their faces) than black women across most magazine types. Yet, black female characters across magazine types largely conformed to a white norm for attractiveness, with medium complexions, straight hair, and curvy figures. And when black female characters appeared in the magazines targeted toward primarily white audiences, they were more likely to have lighter skin, straighter hair, and thinner bodies. Many of these themes were echoed in a more recent analysis of gender and race in ads appearing in Essence and Jet magazines (geared toward black women and black men and women, respectively) conducted by Hazell and Clarke ( 2008 ). They found black women characters were often shown as dominant—with faces presented as a focal point or “head shots” used rather than visuals emphasizing body parts—but also with light to medium complexions, straight and long hair, and increasingly thin figures, thereby reflecting the dominant white standard for beauty.

Television content analysis research has not only tracked the relative attractiveness and body size and shape of characters, but has also analyzed comments made about appearance, as well. Northrup and Liebler ( 2010 ), for instance, found evidence of the reinforcement of the importance of attractiveness and low body weight in characters’ verbal interactions. Lauzen and Dozier ( 2002 ), in a sample of prime time characters, found that although males and females were equally likely to make appearance-related comments, females were twice as likely to receive them. Somewhat similarly, Fouts and Burggraf ( 2002a ) found that those female characters who were below average in weight received more positive comments about their appearance from other characters than those female characters who were average or above in weight. Female characters who were portrayed as dieting admonished themselves for their weight and body shape, adding further force to a drive toward thinness (Fouts & Burggraf, 2002a ). In a parallel study, Fouts and Burggraf ( 2002b ) found that heavy male characters frequently made negative verbal comments about their own weight, often played to the audience for laughs.

Once again, video game content stands out as among the most problematic of media types in the sexualization of female characters and the strong emphasis on their attractiveness. Dietz ( 1998 ), in a content analysis of top-selling and top-renting titles, found female video game characters to frequently have clothing that exposed their bodies and to have exaggerated sexual features. Beasley and Collins Standley ( 2002 ) found female characters in video games were more likely than males to wear fewer items of clothing and show more skin, and 41% of all female characters were coded as having “voluptuous” breasts. Downs and Smith ( 2010 ) found approximately 40% of the female characters who appeared in the popular games in their sample wore clothing that emphasized curves or other body parts and another approximately 40% were partially or fully nude. The body proportions of many of the female characters were skewed toward large breasts and curvaceous hips accompanied by a very thin waist. In magazine ads for video games, Scharrer ( 2004 ) found the female characters appearing in the ads were more likely to be coded as attractive, wore more revealing clothing, and were more likely to be presented with an emphasis on sexuality than the male characters.

Although the topic has received comparatively less research attention, the depiction of male media characters’ attractiveness and physical appearance has been examined, as well. Across these studies, the body type that pervades and is presented as the most ideal for men is muscular and lean. For example, Lin ( 1998 ) studied more than 500 commercials appearing on ABC, CBS, and NBC and determined that a common body type for male characters was muscular (30%), with only very few male characters coded as either “skinny” (4%) or “chunky” (9%). Within magazine content, an increasingly muscular male body has been identified as the norm (Leit, Pope, & Gray, 2000 ; Hatoum & Belle, 2004 ; Frederick, Fessler, & Haselton, 2005 ). Morrison and Halton ( 2009 ) studied a random selection of top-grossing action films from 1980 to 2006 and found the body fat among the male characters decreased over time and their muscularity increased. The muscular male characters in the films were more likely than their less muscular counterparts to interact with others both romantically and sexually and were also more likely to be physically aggressive. Just as we saw for female characters, male characters that meet an increasingly narrow definition of physical attractiveness are more often presented as objects of desire in media compared with those who fail to measure up against such standards.

Domestic Roles

Another realm in which gender roles can be communicated via media is within the household, through domestic roles and responsibilities. From sitcoms that feature families and depict mothers and fathers in particular ways to advertisements for cleaning products and other household goods, the media can be a source of information regarding the division of labor and duties within and around the home. Such depictions can suggest to audience members that males or females are somehow “naturally” better at particular tasks and roles, or “naturally” worse.

Televised female characters’ marital status is more likely to be readily identified compared with male characters (Signorielli & Kahlenberg, 2001 ), thereby suggesting to the audience the relative importance of marriage to and for women. Female characters in telenovelas and serial dramas on Spanish-language television were responsible for more childcare than were male characters and they also had lower status occupations outside the home (Glascock & Ruggiero, 2004 ). An analysis of 124 programs on the broadcast networks aired during the 2005 to 2006 television season found female characters are more often depicted in roles and scenarios having to do with interpersonal relationships—including those familial, between friends, and with romantic partners—than males (Lauzen, Dozier, & Horan, 2008 ). Although there have been greater depictions of women working outside the home (as we will see in the following section of this chapter), the relative tendency to associate female characters with domestic spaces and tasks and with relationships (children, romantic partners, and friends) more so than male characters persists.

Within televised families, studies have also found some pointed differences in how mothers and fathers are represented. The general trend has been toward emancipation for women and mothers over time, with recent roles reflecting more independence and fewer domestic duties (Reep & Dambrot, 1994 ). However, on close scrutiny stereotypes and narrow depictions remain within media depictions of motherhood. Both Keller ( 1994 ) and Douglas and Michaels ( 2004 ) found within the content of women's magazines that the traditional roles of motherhood (including being in charge of care and upkeep of the home as well as of childcare) persist in articles and ads across the decades examined. Also within content in women's magazines, Smith ( 2001 ) found an increasing tendency to feature negative articles about working mothers and daycare between 1987 and 1997, thereby indirectly reinforcing the importance of women's roles within rather than outside the home. Johnston and Swanson ( 2003 ) studied 1998 and 1999 issues of women's and parenting magazines and found employed mothers were present in just 12% of all mother-related text units (i.e., an article, ad, letter, column) compared with 88% for at-home mothers. Mothers of color were underrepresented, with 89% of working mothers and 95% of at-home mothers being white. The working mothers were more likely than the at-home mothers to be presented as happy, busy, and proud, whereas the at-home mothers were more likely to be shown as confused and overwhelmed. Within depictions of motherhood, therefore, contradictions prevail, which seem to simultaneously deliver the message that work and family do not mix and that a maternal role for women is paramount, especially for white women.

In a rare quantitative study investigating masculine roles within the home, Scharrer ( 2001a ) studied 136 episodes of 29 domestic sitcoms airing from the 1950s through the 1990s. She found the father figure increasingly portrayed in a foolish manner, serving as the butt of 60% of all jokes involving the father in the 1990s sitcoms compared to approximately 30% in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Indeed, if joke telling can be considered a manifestation of power between the sexes, women increasingly showed that they had the upper hand. Fathers told jokes at the expense of mothers an average of two to three times per episode in the more recent sitcoms, whereas mothers told jokes at the expense of fathers three to five times. Although in some ways these data suggest progress for the depiction of gender because women have an increasing amount of power, the bumbling role of the sitcom father can suggest to audiences that women are somehow “naturally” more adept at childcare.

Callister and Robinson ( 2010 ) looked at expressions of physical affection among characters populating children's programs in the United States, and found some evidence of gender equality, yet additional data pointing toward gender biases. There were no differences, for instance, in whether male or female characters initiated affection (including hugging and kissing and other forms of affectionate touching) more often. Yet, males received more affection than females and sons were on the receiving end of affection from parents more than daughters, especially from mothers. In this study, therefore, we see that masculinity in this genre can include expressions of warmth and fondness, but interestingly, children's television characters appear to perceive males as more appropriate recipients of such expressions compared with females.

Perhaps in no other television genre do gender stereotypes regarding the domestic sphere pervade than in advertising on television (Browne, 1998 ; Coltrane & Messineo, 2000 ; Scharrer, Kim, Lin, & Liu, 2006 ). Not only are household responsibilities distributed stereotypically, with women, for instance, doing the majority of the cleaning and cooking and men the majority of the outdoor chores and household repairs in commercials (Kaufman, 1999 ; Scharrer et al., 2006 ), but in the few instances in which males do take on chores that run counter to gender expectations, their efforts are often presented as humorously inept. Kaufman ( 1999 ) coded more than 900 characters appearing in more than 1,000 commercials broadcast on the major networks and found that 72% of the time cooking was done by female characters, and females did more cleaning, shopping, and other indoor chores than males. Scharrer et al. ( 2006 ) coded 477 characters in prime time television commercials and found 64% of all domestic chores were performed by women, whereas only 3% of all stereotypically masculine domestic chores (like taking out the trash) were carried out by women. Tellingly, 50% of all chores taken on by men were met with a humorous response compared with just 9% of all chores done by women. When the father figure burns the dinner because the wife who usually cooks is working late, for instance, the subtle message is that one should not transgress traditional gender boundaries.

Women were found to be portrayed as homemakers and mothers and otherwise appearing in the domestic sphere in a recent sample of Spanish television commercials (Royo-Vela, Aldas-Manzano, Kuster, & Vila, 2008 ) and in the United Kingdom (Lewin-Jones & Mitra, 2009 ). A relatively recent study of television commercials in Australia by Milmer and Higgs ( 2004 ) shows that compared with past analyses, there is more evidence of stereotypical gender roles rather than less. Thus, the assignment of women to a domestic space, increasingly out-of-step with the realities of many women in the actual population, is the tendency in other cultural contexts outside the United States, as well.

In commercials within children's television programming, just 12% of commercials featuring boy characters only had an in-home setting compared with 39% of those featuring only girls (Larson, 2001 ). The girls-only commercials were overwhelmingly more likely than the boys-only to show cooperative interactions with others, whereas the boys-only were more likely to feature competition with others. This study joins prior research in determining that within the advertisements that appear during children's programming on television, girls are much more likely to be shown in a domestic setting and boys in an outdoor setting (Bretl & Cantor, 1988 ; Smith, 1994 ). Furthermore, girls in commercials during children's television have also been found to be significantly more nurturing, dependent, and deferential, whereas boys have been determined to be more aggressive and active (Barner, 1999 ). Thus, the placement of girls in roles within the home can coincide with their engagement in quieter, more calming pursuits (playing with baby dolls or kitchen sets, for instance), whereas the placement of boys outdoors can translate into more active and physically demanding activities (like running with trucks, planes, or other toy vehicles).

Occupational Roles

Another key area in which gender roles can be analyzed and understood is within the world of work. What jobs and occupations are held by male and female media characters, respectively? A number of content analysis studies identify the occupational status of media characters (whether they are depicted working outside the home or not), the jobs at which they are employed, and the relative prestige of those jobs. Within these analyses, once again we see some evidence of improving gender equality over time as well as additional indication of lingering limits and stereotypes.

Importantly, male characters are more likely to be explicitly presented as having a job outside the home than female characters on television. Signorielli and Kahlenberg ( 2001 ) found approximately 60% of female characters were identified as having an occupation compared with an estimated three-fourths of male characters. That disparity lingers in the most recent analysis of prime time television programs, as well (Signorielli, 2013 ). Just as women are associated with a home setting more than men, men are connected to the working world more than women on television.

Additional analyses have determined the sorts of occupations that are taken on by male and female characters on television, defining “traditionally male” occupations such as doctors, lawyers, and politicians and “traditionally female” occupations such as teachers and those in the service sector, as well as “gender neutral” occupations. Here we see some progress as well as remaining obstacles standing in the way of wider roles. In terms of progress, women are just as likely as men on television to be found in white collar or professional occupations (Signorielli & Kahlenberg, 2001 ; Signorielli, 2013 ). Furthermore, only about 20% of female characters are currently in “traditionally female” occupations, with an estimated one-third crossing traditional gender boundaries by occupying “traditionally male” jobs (Signorielli, 2013 ). Limiting circumstances persist for male characters, however, in that an estimated one-half has “traditionally male” jobs and careers, and just 5% are depicted in “traditionally female” occupational roles (Signorielli, 2013 ). Thus, the roles of male characters are more restricted within the professional realm than those of female characters in the contemporary television scene.

Important differences arise for gender and race when examining television programs that mostly feature characters from a single racial or ethnic group compared with those that feature characters that span multiple racial and ethnic groups. Signorielli ( 2009b ) found only 40% of black women in mostly minority programs were depicted working outside the home. Of those black women in mostly minority programs who did hold out-of-the-home occupations, they tended to be classified in non-professional jobs. Likewise, white women in programs with all or mostly white casts were also less likely to have high-prestige occupations. No such pattern was found for the occupations of male characters in the study. Their occupational status and prestige was not related to the overall racial and ethnic composition of the cast.

A limited number of studies examine the messages audiences receive through magazines regarding occupations. Massoni ( 2004 ) compared data from the National Center for Education Statistics to study career aspirations of teens of color and white teens and depictions of occupations in the highly popular Seventeen magazine in the same year. The analysis yielded more than 1,000 references to jobs and occupations in the editorial copy of the magazines to which gender could be ascribed. Men were depicted as having an occupation three times more often than women were in the magazine, and men held about three-fourths of the white collar, highly skilled occupations. Women held the majority of white collar, low-skilled occupations, but that was mostly explained by the predominance of females employed as models highlighted in the magazine. A total of 40 discrete jobs were depicted, and of those, 24 were male-dominated, 10 female-dominated, and 6 gender-neutral. Somewhat similarly, Peirce ( 1997 ) generated a random selection of fiction stories published in five women's magazines from 1990 to 1995 and found men were more likely to be shown as having an occupation and occupations were gender stereotyped, with common roles for men including doctors, lawyers, and business people, and common roles for women including secretaries, nurses, and housekeepers.

Finally, a subset of the existing content analyses depicting occupational activities examines the use of computers and information communication technologies (ICTs) by gender. Studies have found males outnumber females in magazine ads for computers, and differences exist in how males and females interact with computers as well, with males more often portrayed in executive or managerial roles and women as sales clerks and clerical employees (Ware & Stuck, 1985 ; Marshall & Bannon, 1988 ). Knupfer ( 1998 ) studied gender in banner ads appearing on the Web and found females were presented as lower in technological skills and in more subordinate roles compared with men. White and Kinnick ( 2000 ) examined 351 commercials during prime time television and determined that although female characters were shown as computer users nearly as often as male characters, their occupations were lower in status (e.g., secretaries or telemarketers) compared with males (who were, for instance, business professionals). Raphael, Bachen, Lynn, Baldwin-Philippi, and McKee ( 2006 ) studied 35 Web sites that expressed a mission to increase the involvement of girls and women in ICTs and found these sites show just the opposite trend, with girls and women depicted in elite and high-powered professional occupations.

Effects Research

One of the primary reasons why content analysis research is conducted is as a necessary first step to understanding media effects (Neuendorf, 2002 ). To determine whether and how and under what circumstances individuals are influenced by media, it is crucial to know what messages prevail in media texts. There is not always a direct correspondence between media content and media effects, however. The media effects research tradition has made great strides in recent years in showing that individuals are not always affected by media in uniform ways, but rather that individual differences and situational variables shape media effects. Therefore, the same media content can have differential effects on audiences. At the same time, content analysis research can identify the themes and patterns in media messages that ultimately may be called on by individuals—again, perhaps in differing ways—as they make sense of social norms and their relative position within those norms.

Like most media effects topic areas, the potential influence of media representations of gender is often studied through the use of surveys and experiments. The former lends external validity and generalizability but often falls short of asserting causal claims (unless, of course, it is conducted longitudinally). The latter is often rather artificial but allows for declarations of cause-and-effect relationships among variables. Studies using survey methodology are effective at measuring long-term, cumulative associations between media use patterns and gender-role related variables. Studies using experimental methodology capture the short-term, direct impact of media exposure. Both techniques have been used extensively to determine the ways in which media can shape conceptions about gender roles, attitudes toward those roles, and corresponding behavior.

The organization of this latter section of the chapter parallels the organization of the first section, with the subtopics identified in the content analysis research informing the review of effects research. Therefore, the surveys and experiments conducted to understand the impact of media depictions of physical appearance, roles within the home, and roles at work are synthesized and summarized here. However, one exception to this parallel structure surfaces. The content analysis section of the chapter provides evidence for the systematic underrepresentation of women in many media forms. This is a topic that has not been taken up directly in effects research to date, and therefore there is no corresponding subsection in the latter part of the chapter exploring the ramifications of underrepresentation. What are the consequences of an inequitable representation by gender on television, in video games, and in other media forms—where males consistently outnumber females—for audience members? Collins ( 2011 ) identifies this question as a critical gap in the media and gender literature. She suggests that the closest parallel in the existing research is the very small number of studies that show audiences of color gain increases in self-esteem when they see fellow people of color in the media (e.g., McDermott & Greenberg, 1984 ). Perhaps women in the audience, too, would experience a boost in self-esteem if they saw more women in primary roles in the media. Yet, clearly this phenomenon is not well understood and this chapter author joins Collins in calling for future research attention devoted to this important question.

Influence on Overall Gender-Role Attitudes

Before a more specialized review of the subtopics considered in this chapter (physical appearance, domestic roles, and occupational roles) is conducted, it is also necessary to consider the evidence for the influence of the media on attitudes and views about gender, in general. In other words, before discussing the evidence for effects of gendered portrayals of physical appearance, domestic roles, and professional roles, we first turn to the studies that explore the role of media in fostering overall conceptions of gender norms. For this task, meta-analysis is a useful approach. With the technique of meta-analysis, a number of studies on a shared topic are examined in the aggregate to arrive on overall conclusions that span the individual studies that comprise the analysis. Thus, meta-analysis identifies the overall size and strength of statistical relationships across numerous studies on a shared topic that encompass multiple methodologies and samples of various size and characteristics.

A small number of meta-analyses exist on the topic of media's effect on gender-related attitudes and behavior. Herrett-Skjellum and Allen ( 1996 ) integrated 30 existing studies and found an average effect size of .10 between television use and gender role stereotypes. The relationship held across age of subjects, and among the strongest associations was that between television exposure and views of occupational roles (a topic taken up in more detail in the following). An average effect size of .10 was also found by Morgan and Shanahan ( 1997 ), whose meta-analysis consisted of 14 studies of overall television use and gender roles that used cultivation analysis as a theoretical frame. Most recently, Oppliger ( 2007 ) conducted a meta-analysis of 31 studies and found a statistical relationship between television exposure and gender-role outcomes among experimental studies of r = .24 and among surveys of r = .12. Across each of the meta-analyses that exist on the topic; therefore, the effect size is small to moderate but in a consistently positive direction, suggesting television contributes modestly yet significantly to relatively more stereotypical and traditional gender-related outlooks.

Individual studies have also shown links between television exposure and overall conceptions of gender. For instance, Signorielli ( 1989 ) used the General Social Survey (GSS) from 1975 to 1986 to examine the association between amount of television viewing and gender-stereotypical attitudes. Although overall, views became less gender-stereotyped over time, a statistical association between television viewing and holding more traditional views of the role of women in society held across the time period examined. Jennings, Geis, & Brown ( 1980 ) used experimental methodology to expose college-aged women to either a gender-stereotyped commercial or a counter-stereotypical commercial and found the assertiveness of those in the counter-stereotypical group outscored those in the gender-stereotypical group in both a conformity and a public speaking task that took place after exposure. Garst and Bodenhausen ( 1997 ) exposed male college students to magazine advertisements that varied according to how androgynous or traditionally masculine they were. Those in the traditionally masculine condition, and in particular those who had scored as more “nontraditional” before exposure, displayed more traditional views of gender when reporting gender-related attitudes later, in a task that was ostensibly unrelated to their exposure. Hurtz and Durkin ( 2004 ) asked 72 adult residents of an Australian city to listen to radio ads that varied in terms of gender stereotyping (e.g., promoting soccer among males or sewing machines among females) presented alongside music programming. Those exposed to the set of stereotypical radio commercials processed gender-related trait words more efficiently following exposure compared to those exposed to neutral commercials. From this brief review, therefore, we see that radio, magazine advertising, television commercials, and television programming each has the potential to exert an influence on the overall view of gender held by individuals and the behaviors that emerge from those views.

Other studies have examined these processes among particular subgroups of the population or particular genres of television programming. For example, Ward, Hansbrough, and Walker ( 2005 ) found that black high school students who viewed both more music videos and more sports had more gender-typed attitudes than those who watched less of those program types. In their study, viewing of other genres including situation comedies, dramas, and movies, was not related to gender-related attitudes. Rivadeneyra and Ward ( 2005 ) surveyed a sample of Latino high school students, measuring gender-related attitudes through such items as “the husband should make all the important decisions in the marriage” and “a wife should do whatever her husband wants” (p. 462). They found girls who watched more television, especially talk shows and situation comedies, were more likely to endorse gender-role stereotypes than girls who watched less. For both the males and the females in the sample, exposure to Spanish-language programs was also associated with traditional gender-role attitudes. Importantly, television use was more strongly correlated with these attitudes when participants had higher levels of perceived realism and viewer involvement.

A number of studies also examine television's contribution to gender role attitudes outside the United States. In one such study, Saito ( 2007 ) surveyed 417 adult Tokyo residents and determined that amount of television viewing was significantly associated with more stereotypical responses to the Scale of Egalitarian Sex Role Attitudes (Suzuki, 1991 ) and remained marginally significant ( β = –.094, p = .07) when controlling for age, education, occupational status, and political orientation in hierarchical regression analysis. Follow-up analyses revealed stronger or weaker results depending on subgroup. For instance, politically conservative respondents who were heavy television viewers had less stereotyped responses to the scale than heavier viewing liberal respondents. These analyses support the notion of mainstreaming, a concept within cultivation theory that shows the ability of television to reduce differences in individuals’ viewpoints that would typically be found based on demographics (Morgan, Shanahan, & Signorielli, 2009 ). Thus, in some individuals and under some circumstances, television use can associate with less rather than more stereotypical attitudes regarding gender.

In fact, additional analyses have supported the ability of television to contribute to gender role attitudes that run counter to gender stereotypes in other cultural contexts. In Kuwait, Abdulrahim, Al-Kandari, and Hasanen ( 2009 ) found that amount of viewing of American television programming was associated with more open, nontraditional views of gender, measured using items including, “Women should have the same rights as men in every way” and “Men and women should get equal pay when they are in the same jobs” (p. 64). Exposure to US television remained a significant predictor of less gender-stereotypical views even when accounting for demographic variables and perceptions of television's ability to provide transcultural knowledge. The direction of television's correlation can change, therefore, depending on its message in comparison with other cultural and social forces.

The research record is quite clear that there are negative repercussions of the media's depiction of the thin ideal, particularly for women. Groesz, Levine, and Murnen ( 2002 ) performed a meta-analysis on 25 experiments examining the effect of thinness-depicting media on women's body image. They found an overall effects size of –.31, showing lower body satisfaction among women who saw media depictions of the thin ideal compared with those in control groups (most of whom saw more realistic images of women). The effects were stronger when research participants were less than 19 years old. A meta-analysis conducted by Grabe, Ward, and Hyde ( 2008 ) consisting of 77 studies found effects sizes of women's media exposure with their dissatisfaction with their bodies of –.28, with their internalization of a thin ideal of –.39, and with their eating behavior and beliefs (which included restricting one's eating, bingeing and purging, and excessively exercising) of –.30. Holstrom ( 2004 ) meta-analyzed 34 studies for which an effects size could be determined between exposure to media and judgments about one's own physical appearance, particularly regarding body size and shape. When weighting effects sizes by number of participants in each study, Holstrom arrived on smaller but still significant results: a mean effects size of .08 for the experimental studies and .07 for correlational. We can confidently conclude from these meta-analyses that media exert a small to moderate sized effect on body image–related outcomes.

Some of the existing research uses survey methodology to examine the relationship between overall amount of television exposure and feeling dissatisfied with the appearance of one's body. For example, Harrison and Cantor ( 1997 ) and Tiggemann ( 2003 ) have each found overall amount of television exposure predicts body dissatisfaction. Zhang and Lien ( 2010 ) determined from a sample of 301 Taiwanese adolescent girls that among those with low self-esteem and heavier body weight, television viewing associated with body dissatisfaction. Other surveys have examined exposure to particular genres or types of television programming (such as programs that are particularly “thinness depicting”) rather than (or sometimes in addition to) overall amount of television viewing, and have found associations with body image disturbances (Harrison, 2003 ; Bissell & Zhou, 2004 ; Stice, Schupak-Neuberg, Shaw, & Stein, 1994 ; Park, 2005 ; Tiggemann, 2003 , 2005 ). Similar results have been found to stem from exposure to fashion and beauty-centered magazines, as well (Harrison, 2000a ).

An important new trend in the literature is to examine these relationships between media and body image as they develop over time. For example, Moriarty and Harrison ( 2008 ) conducted a longitudinal study of 315 second, third, and fourth graders, gathering data at two points in time 1 year apart and measuring disordered eating, a phenomenon that includes having a negative body image, binge eating, restricting one's diet, abusing laxatives, pills, and other substances in an attempt to control weight, and over-exercising. They found television exposure significantly predicted eating disorder symptomology among both the white and the black girls in the sample, but not among boys of either race, after controlling for a number of variables, including disordered eating at baseline.

Indeed, one particularly disturbing subtopic within the literature examines the age at which media-influenced body image disturbances begin. Harrison and Hefner ( 2006 ) studied a sample of prepubescent girls over time, some as young as 6 years old, and found television viewing predicted later disordered eating as well as a thinner view of the ideal adult body type. Dohnt and Tiggemann ( 2006 ) surveyed girls age 5 through 8 and found significant associations between viewing “appearance-focused television” and the girls’ satisfaction with their own appearance. Boys are not immune from such influence. Harrison ( 2000b ) studied boys and girls age 6 to 8 and found that television exposure predicted disordered eating for both.

Another recent direction in research on this topic is to examine the impact of playing video games that feature sexualized portrayals of female characters that emphasize their body and their beauty on individuals’ attitudes toward sexual harassment and sexual aggression. Yao, Mahood, and Linz ( 2010 ), for example, randomly assigned 74 male college students to play either a sexually explicit game with objectified female characters ( Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude ) or one of two control games. Posttest measures included a lexical task to measure the priming of sex-related thoughts and a scale measuring likelihood to sexually harass. Yao et al. found those in the sexually objectifying condition responded faster to both sexual words and to sexually objectifying descriptions of women, thereby indicating priming had occurred, and scored higher on the likelihood to sexually harass scale than those in the control conditions. Dill, Brown, and Collins ( 2008 ) also found a link between playing video games featuring appearance-related gender stereotypes and greater tolerance for sexual harassment (but not rape myth acceptance) in a prior experiment (see Chapter 12 for other effects of sexually explicit media).

For males, there is evidence that boys are driven not necessarily toward thinness but rather toward muscularity as a body ideal (Cohane & Pope, 2001 ; Moriarty & Harrison, 2008 ). Barlett, Vowels, and Saucier ( 2008 ) have used meta-analysis to summarize and synthesize the existing studies on the topic of media and the body image disturbances of males. They examined 25 studies comprising 93 different effects sizes between media exposure and males’ body satisfaction (how one thinks about one's body), body esteem (how one feels about one's body) and self-esteem. Within the correlational studies, the overall effects size was –.19 and within the experimental studies, the overall effects size was –.22, thereby determining that, like females, males are negatively affected by media depictions of thinness and muscularity among male media characters.

The vast majority of studies examining media influence on body image–related variables examine the role of television and magazines and the advertisements contained within (Holstrom, 2004 ; Grabe et al., 2008 ). Yet, recently the phenomenon has been extended into video games, as well, with Barlett and Harris ( 2008 ) finding that playing a game that featured either an exceptionally thin or an exceptionally muscular character for 15 minutes led to decreases in self-esteem among male and female research participants. Furthermore, two recent studies have examined the consequences of viewing television programs that focus explicitly on appearance-related makeovers. Nabi ( 2009 ) studied exposure to reality-based programs specifically about cosmetic surgery makeovers, such as The Swan, Extreme Makeover , and I Want a Famous Face . Exposure to the cosmetic surgery makeover programs was positively linked to self-reported likelihood to engage in “appearance-enhancing procedures” if cost were no object, including those procedures minimally as well as more invasive. Somewhat similarly, Kubic and Chory ( 2007 ) found amount of viewing of makeover programs to be negatively related to self-esteem and positively related to dissatisfaction with one's body and a drive toward “perfectionism.”

Although the occasional study fails to find a significant link between negative body image and either overall amount of television exposure (e.g., Botta, 1999 ; Tiggemann, 2005 ) or viewing of specific genres (e.g., Botta, 1999 ; Stice, Spangler, & Agras, 2001 ), the majority of the evidence suggests conclusively that media exert a small- to moderate-sized influence on body image. For individuals young and old, for males as well as females, and for individuals who vary by race, the profound emphasis in the media on beauty, thinness, and physical attractiveness does have negative consequences for the ways in which they perceive themselves and others. Such consequences can span the range from momentary lapses in self-esteem to longer lasting and more troubling forms of eating disorder symptomology.

Domestic and Relational Roles

Television and other media forms have also been examined for their potential contribution to gender roles regarding responsibilities in and around the home. One of the primary questions under this heading is whether the consistently gender-stereotyped information audiences receive from advertising and other media sources regarding housework responsibilities (as we have seen in the first section of this chapter) sways perceptions among individuals in the audience regarding whether males or females should do particular chores. Although the existing research is rather dated, the available evidence suggests television use is related to children and adolescents holding traditional attitudes about who should be or is suited for particular roles and responsibilities, such as females cooking and cleaning and males fixing things and taking out the trash (Morgan, 1987 ; Signorielli & Lears, 1992 ). In an interesting split between attitudes and behavior, the role of television does not seem to extend to the issue of who actually does these domestic tasks. Rather, the distribution of housework and chore behavior (although often shown to be quite gendered) is not typically related to amount of television use. For example, in Morgan's ( 1987 ) longitudinal data from 287 adolescents, television viewing predicted changes in adolescents’ views of whether males or females should perform certain chores toward those more traditional in nature. Yet, television viewing was not related to the adolescents’ own household chore responsibilities. In a sample of fourth and fifth graders, Signorielli and Lears ( 1992 ) also found significant associations between television use and gender-typed attitudes toward housework but no such link between viewing and actually doing particular chores in and around the house.

Another research question regarding domestic roles is whether media can play a part in forming individuals’ perceptions of what mothers or fathers should be like, as well as how men and women form and behave within romantic relationships in general. One study on the topic took place in the Netherlands and featured the survey responses of 166 female adolescents and young women age 15 to 22 (Ex, Janssens, & Korzilius, 2002 ). Ex et al. found the amount of exposure to sitcoms and soap operas that feature more conventional gender-role depictions, but not the overall amount of television viewing, was associated with the young women anticipating a more traditional approach to their own future roles within motherhood, one in which family and children were emphasized over work. From this study, it seems specific television genres can shape the notions that girls and young women hold regarding potential roles for themselves as mothers.

Additional analyses have studied perceptions of dating and intimate relationships, and have generally supported the hypothesis that specific forms of television viewing can promote gender-related stereotypes. In a sample of 259 undergraduate students, Ward ( 2002 ) found amount of exposure to prime time comedies, prime time dramas, soap operas, and music videos were each associated with support for such stereotypical conceptions, including women being viewed as sex objects and men being seen as driven by sex as well as being unlikely to maintain a monogamous relationship. Ferris, Smith, Greenberg, and Smith ( 2007 ) found male heavy viewers of reality-based television dating programs endorsed the same sorts of stereotypes that surfaced in the Ward ( 2002 ) study (women as sex objects, men as sex driven) compared with their lighter viewer counterparts. Bryant ( 2008 ) determined that greater exposure to rap videos was related to black adolescents endorsing adversarial attitudes about romantic relationships, including economic equality and roles taken up within relationships. The more the young people watched rap videos, the more accepting they were of the ways in which both males and females were depicted in the videos. In an experiment conducted by Ward, Hansbrough, and Walker ( 2005 ), it was determined that black high school students who saw clips of music videos with stereotypical portrayals of men and women expressed more traditional views about sexual relationships and gender than those assigned to a different experimental condition.

We can safely conclude, therefore, that exposure to particularly gender-stereotyped content on television—whether it is found in music videos or soap operas, reality-based programs or prime time sitcoms or dramas—can contribute to audience members’ stereotypical views of gender in sexual and romantic relationships. The effects research in this topic area has also shown that amount of television viewed by children and adolescents can shape their views of whether males or females should be responsible for particular household chores, although such exposure has not been shown to extend to the domestic responsibilities actually enacted by children and adolescents. There appears to be few if any recent scholarly inquiries into the possible effects of media depictions of household tasks and roles, however, and therefore the ways in which media might or might not influence the contemporary audience in this regard remain largely unknown.

Television has been found to affect perceptions of the careers that are deemed open to and suitable for males and females, as well as those that are deemed less so. These effects have the ability to limit one's view of career aspirations if they uphold gender stereotypical norms. On the other hand, the research evidence is also quite clear that when television and other media forms portray a counter-stereotypical set of occupations, exposure can translate into a more encompassing view of “acceptable” occupations.

Research conducted in the 1970s and 1980s points to television's ability to foster traditional notions of gender and occupation. Beuf ( 1974 ) found amount of television viewing to predict stereotypical views of careers among 3- to 6-year-old children. A longitudinal study of sixth to eighth graders conducted by Morgan ( 1982 ) found among girls that television viewing predicted stereotypical responses over time to an index that included such measures as “women are happiest at home raising children” and “men are born with more ambition than women,” even after controlling for a number of additional variables. Jeffries-Fox and Jeffries-Fox ( 1981 ) surveyed 200 seventh to ninth graders and found that television exposure made a small but significant contribution to their conceptions of gender roles regarding occupations and work-related capacities. In early research conducted on the topic, therefore, television was associated with support for traditional occupational assignments, such as men as doctors and women as nurses, men as lawyers and women as secretaries, and so on.

Other studies examined audience members’ perceptions of the ways in which television depicts gender and occupations. Within a sample of more than 1,200 Israeli adults, Zemach and Cohen ( 1986 ) found heavy television viewing to be associated with a smaller gap between perceptions of the ways in which television depicts gender and occupations and actual population statistics regarding gender and occupations. In other words, those who watched more television perceived the “real world” to more closely approximate the television world in terms of whether and how men and women were employed. Wroblewski and Huston ( 1987 ) found fifth and sixth grade girls who were frequent viewers of television programs with traditional gender depictions and infrequent viewers of programs with counter-stereotypical gender depictions expressed stronger aspirations toward more traditionally feminine occupations such as those featured on the screen. Both boys and girls in the study had negative attitudes about male characters participating in traditionally female-associated occupations on television.

Among the first studies to consider whether reverse stereotypical depictions can have a liberating effect on conceptions of gender roles was the experiment conducted by Atkins and Miller ( 1975 ). In their study, young research participants in the treatment group watched commercials that featured female characters in traditionally male-dominated careers. Following exposure, treatment group members were more likely than control group members to endorse male-dominated occupations as being acceptable for women, too. In an analysis of the prominent “Freestyle” television series featuring counter-stereotypical occupations (e.g., females as car mechanics and males as nurses), Johnston and Ettema ( 1982 ) found exposure to be associated with less stereotypical views of gender, especially with accompanied by an in-school curriculum. Geis, Brown, Walstedt, & Porter ( 1984 ) exposed research participants to either gender-stereotypical commercials or counter-stereotypical commercials and then asked them to write about what they imagined their lives would be like in 10 years. The women in the stereotypical commercial condition brought up aspects of domesticity more so than professional achievements compared with both the men and the women who were in the counter-stereotypical condition. In a much more recent study, Nathanson, Wilson, McGee, and Sebastian ( 2002 ) also determined that parental mediation can shape children's responses to stereotypes on television, with those in a mediation condition less likely to have favorable views of stereotyped characters and, among the younger children in the sample, more likely to score lower on a scale measuring stereotypical attitudes.

It is clear that children perceive television's depiction of occupations as stereotypical rather early on in childhood (Wroblewski & Huston, 1987 ; Wright et al., 1995 ). In fact, in Wright and colleagues’ ( 1995 ) study of second and fifth graders, the children were more likely to aspire to a career seen on television if that career was not seen as gender stereotypical. Nonetheless, despite the skepticism that awareness of gender stereotyping would suggest, there is at least tentative evidence of television's effects in the existing research. The topic does not appear to have been taken up in more recent research, yet the (admittedly aging) research record does suggest that depending on the nature of the depiction—whether it upholds or runs counter to gender stereotypes—television use can contribute to views of gender and occupations. More recent explorations of what audiences may be learning from television and other media depictions of work are curiously absent in the literature.

Conclusions

The body of evidence accrued through content analysis regarding gender representations in media has pointed decidedly to progress in the opening up of gender roles on television, particularly those for women, both within and outside the home. Yet, a careful review of the content patterns suggests there still exists room for improvement, with some gendered depictions proving more stubborn to overturn, including within roles for men, within the close association of marital status to women and occupational status to men, and perhaps most egregiously, within the strict assignment of individuals to specific housework, parenting, and domestic care practices, particularly in advertising. Furthermore, all of these depictions and others occur within a scenario in which women continue to be underrepresented in media compared with men and their presence in the actual population. Such lack of visibility has the potential to send a message that women are undervalued in society.

Content analysis research also establishes conclusively that the men and women who populate media increasingly bear little resemblance to the men and women in the audience. Female characters in media are thin yet curvaceous. Many are clothed, photographed, or filmed in such a manner as to draw particular attention to their bodies. Male characters are lean and muscular. Both male and female characters who meet these increasingly strict definitions of beauty are more likely than their less fortunate (and less visible) counterparts to receive positive comments about how they look and to be presented in romantic as well as sexual contexts.

The effects research has shown that these media depictions of gender do, indeed, matter in that audiences young and old are absorbing these messages about gender and using them to shape their attitudes, intentions, and behavior. First, we have seen through both meta-analysis and through individual studies that myriad media forms—from overall amount of television to exposure to particular program types or genres, from video games to magazines, and increasingly ubiquitous ads—contribute to overall attitudes held by individuals regarding gender roles. The direction of this relationship is typically positive: Increased exposure relates to increased stereotypical or traditional views. However, we have also seen evidence that when television is among the more liberal or progressive messages an individual receives from the culture, the direction of the relationship can change. Television use can associate in these contexts with more open and wider views of gender roles.

The implications of the underrepresentation of women in terms of effects on the audience are unknown at this time. Yet, the implications of the other content patterns identified in this chapter have been explored in media effects research, some more thoroughly and some more recently than others. It is clear, for instance, that the profound emphasis on physical beauty and thin and lean bodies has negative consequences for media audiences. Media impact on body image disturbances begins as a disturbingly young age and has the potential to impact across gender and race. We can also confidently conclude that individuals are responding to the ways in which romantic and sexual relationships, often occurring within domestic settings, are portrayed in the media according to gender. The views of young audience members regarding how and why men and women form romantic relationships take shape, at least in part, from the media messages they receive, which include males being loathe to make commitments and women being viewed as objects of sexual attention. Early research established that television could also shape young people's views of housework and division of labor by gender, although this topic is in need of updating in future research. Finally, once again, early research showed the ability of television to contribute to conceptions about jobs, careers, and related skills and roles within. The conclusion from that body of research, that the television influence can either promote or refute stereotypes, should also be revisited in future research and should be extended into other popular media forms.

Future Directions

The body of knowledge on media and gender, as we have seen, is extensive and robust. Yet, key unanswered questions remain. First, it is essential to update the effects research in this area, as much of the existing research record on a number of subtopics relies on studies conducted in the 1970s or 1980s. The effects research has not kept pace with the content analysis research, and future researchers should use the most recent content findings to guide explorations of the ways in which audiences are receiving and responding to those depictions. Do modern media audience members draw from media in forming their notions of gender roles related to domestic and professional realms? With real-world statistics showing more equity in housework and child care roles within the home and more participation of women in the out-of-home workforce, how do media portrayals potentially resonate with or challenge individuals’ day-to-day experiences?

Second, it is also quite evident from this review that men's roles and the depiction of masculinity have received much less attention than women's roles and the depiction of femininity, in both content analysis and effects research (Scharrer, 2012 ). One exception not yet discussed in this chapter is the existing research linking masculinity with aggression and violence in media portrayals. The longitudinal analyses of prime time television content conducted by Gerbner and, most recently, by Signorielli, for instance, establish conclusively that males are both the most frequent perpetrators and the most frequent victims of violence (Signorielli & Gerbner, 1995 ; Signorielli, 2003 ). Scharrer ( 2001b , 2012 ) has expanded these analyses to examine not just physical aggression but other indicators of “hypermasculinity”—including having a calloused attitude toward sex, a sensation-seeking tendency, and a tight control over emotions—in police and detective shows on television over time. The consequences of hypermasculinity for the aggressive responses of viewers to violent television has also been explored (Scharrer, 2001c , 2005 ). Yet, with this exception aside, the relative failure to explore masculinity and media from a quantitative, media effects perspective is a considerable gap in the literature that should be addressed in future research. Increasingly, scholars from sociology, psychology, cultural studies, and other fields are recognizing that the study of masculinity is important as a means of examining social and cultural norms, dominance and power in society, and implications for everyday interactions between and within people of varying genders. With some content analysis evidence that men's roles, too, are often restricted and constrained in media depictions (once again, as we have begun to see in this chapter), it is likely that media could contribute to conceptualizations of male roles. How do views of masculinity form in our media-saturated culture? New research in this area would make an important contribution to the body of knowledge regarding gender and media.

Another area that needs greater attention in future research is the issue of gender and the online media environment. A meta-analysis of 132 articles pertaining to gender and the Internet published between 1995 and 2003 in 28 publications found just two content analysis studies of gender roles in Internet content (Royal, 2005 ). The vast majority of articles in Royal's analysis were about women's access to Internet technology and women's uses of the Internet, thereby demonstrating the need not just for additional content analyses in this area, but also more effects research. Of course, the challenge of Internet research is the vast and ever-changing landscape that is represented in the millions of pages and sites. Nonetheless, with audiences young and old spending more time using social media (e.g., Facebook) and visiting other web sites, future research must overcome these obstacles. What are the ways that Internet use might contribute to gender-related perceptions, norms, and other outcomes among individuals young and old? This, too, is largely unanswered in the existing research, most of which focuses on television. Although television continues to dominate other media forms in how most individuals devote their time to media, exploring the Internet and other media forms more fully is necessary, nonetheless.

Finally, as the field of media psychology continues to embrace and attempt to capture the complexity of individuals’ responses to media, future research in this area should reserve a central role for the study of individual differences. How does one's own degree of gender conformity, lived experiences with distribution of labor within the family or within the home, and professional status and roles shape one's response to media representations of gender? Close attention to these questions in future research in this area would make important contributions to the ever-important topic of media and gender.

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Gender (In)equality in English Textbooks in the Philippines: A Critical Discourse Analysis

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• Published: 06 June 2020
• Volume 24 , pages 1167–1188, ( 2020 )

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• Eulalia M. Curaming 1 &
• Rommel A. Curaming   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5419-9241 2  

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Using critical discourse analysis, this study examines the representations of gender relations in a popular English textbook series used in primary schools in the Philippines, which is a highly-ranked country in global gender equality indices. It seeks to analyse the persistence of gender inequality in textbooks in a context that is fairly favourable for the promotion of gender equality. The findings indicate that overall gender inequality remains in favour of males. The persistence of male dominance overall despite demonstrable pro-women proclivities of the authors/editors may be a reflection of the enduring gender gap in the country, particularly in economic and political spheres. The implications are rather sobering. If achieving gender equality remains a challenge even among the highly-ranked countries like the Philippines, how much more is the case for over a hundred of lower-ranked countries?

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Acknowledgements

Eulalia M. Curaming wishes to thank Dr Xiao Lan Curdt-Christiansen for supervising the thesis upon which this paper has been based.

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Curaming, E.M., Curaming, R.A. Gender (In)equality in English Textbooks in the Philippines: A Critical Discourse Analysis. Sexuality & Culture 24 , 1167–1188 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-020-09750-4

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• Published: 20 December 2023

Breaking through the glass ceiling: unveiling women’s representation by gender and race in the higher education hierarchy

• Yunyu Xiao   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0479-1781 1 ,
• Edward Pinkney 2 ,
• Tianzi Li 1 &
• Paul S. F. Yip   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1596-4120 2 , 3  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  10 , Article number:  975 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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This retrospective study examined progress towards diversity at the intersection of gender and ethnicity amongst senior higher education academics and managers in England and Wales. The study aimed to assess any evidence of competing diversity agendas and the impact of diversity initiatives on female racial minorities. This study investigates the advancement of diversity at the nexus of gender and ethnicity within senior academic and management roles in higher education across England and Wales. Using employment records of senior staff from higher education institutions were used to assess trends in race and gender, it retrospectively examines trends in employment for ethnic minority women and the effectiveness of diversity awards from 2012 to 2019. We also collected data on the receipt of Athena SWAN or Race Equality Charter awards by higher education institutions. Mixed-effects modelling was employed to analyse the correlation between institutions awarded the Athena SWAN Silver or Race Equality Charter Bronze and variances in the representation of women from racial minorities. Results indicate that the representation of ethnic minority females in senior roles showed a marked increase over the study period. However, disparities were observed, with Black females showing fewer signs of advancement. Institutions that received Athena SWAN Silver or Race Equality Charter Bronze awards demonstrated increasing gender and racial diversity, with no evidence of competing diversity effects. The study found evidence of progress in advancing gender and ethnic diversity in senior academic and leadership positions in higher education in England and Wales. Despite this, certain racial groups, such as Black females, faced greater challenges in advancement. The positive impact of diversity initiatives was observed, with no evidence of conflicting diversity agendas. Further research is recommended to investigate structural factors affecting ethnic minorities in higher education, and to assess the potential influences of external factors like the COVID-19 pandemic on the diversity agenda.

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Introduction

Historical context of diversity in higher education.

Higher education (HE) institutions have played a significant role in societal debates on gender and racial inequalities. While initiatives aimed at promoting female representation in academia date back to the 1960s (David 2015 ), continuing systemic barriers have prevented women, particularly women of racial minorities, from accessing senior positions, leading to concerns about the existence of a ‘glass ceiling’ effect (Oberholzer 2021 ; Jackson and O’Callaghan 2009 ). The intersectionality theory posits that female racial minorities face cumulative barriers rooted in gender and racial biases (Crenshaw 2017 ). For female racial minorities in the HE workplace, there may be a ‘double whammy’ of gender and racial barriers (Berdahl and Moore 2006 ; Logan and Dudley 2021 ).

Recent literature reveals that in the United Kingdom (UK), there continues to be an underrepresentation of women in senior academic ranks, particularly within the professoriate and senior leadership positions Higher Education Statistics Authority (HESA 2023 ; Shepherd 2017 ; Jarboe 2019 ; Meho 2021 ). Published figures from the HESA ( 2023 ) show that although female students in the UK surpassed their male counterparts, 29.6% of professors were women in the academic year 2021/2022. Various factors, ranging from sociocultural norms to employment structural hurdles, have been attributed to this disparity (Manfredi et al. 2019 ).

Racial diversity in HE persists as an ongoing concern. In 2021/2022, Black and Asian individuals represented only 1 and 4% of senior roles, respectively, while 88% were occupied by White individuals (ONS 2022 ). These figures starkly contrast with the demographic trends in the wider population in England and Wales, where the proportion of Asian (or Asian British, Asian Welsh) has increased from 7.5% in 2011 to 9.3% in 2021, and the proportion of Black (or Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean, African) was 4%, up from 3.3% in 2011 (ONS 2022 ). Such discrepancies suggest considerable underrepresentation in academia relative to the wider population. The proportion of ethnic minorities in the professoriate was also considerably lower than the proportion among the staff and student body (Coughlan 2021 ). This declining diversity in advancing academic roles has been described as the ‘leaky pipeline’ phenomenon (Sarraju et al. 2023 ; Ovseiko et al. 2020 ). Within staff ranks, ethnic minority academics were found to be more likely to move overseas (Bhopal et al. 2016 ), and a University College Union analysis found a significant pay gap between White and Black academics, with Black academics earning 14% less than their White counterparts (UCU 2019 ) . Highlighting the absence of diversity at higher ranks, in 2019, there were reportedly just 25 Black female professors in the UK of the more than 20,000 professors (Adams 2020 ). These inequities are particularly striking when juxtaposed against the burgeoning diversity in the general and student population, with most recent figures showing that over a quarter of UK-domiciled students are ethnic minorities increasing annually (HESA 2023 ).

Though commendable strides have been made to foster gender equality in HE in recent years (Xiao et al. 2020 ), there are concerns that gender and racial initiatives may not always align (Bhopal 2023 ; Kalpazidou et al. 2020 ). A call to recalibrate these initiatives to more comprehensively address the nuances of ‘double marginalisation’ at the intersection of gender and race (Stockfelt 2018 ) is, therefore, both timely and critical for ensuring a more equitable environment.

Policy interventions and their real-world impact

Policy initiatives such as the Athena SWAN Charter emerged in the early 2000s as drivers of change to combat gender disparities (Xiao et al. 2020 ). Since launching in 2005, the Charter has issued awards to higher education institutions for showing a commitment to gender equality, and the initiative has been found to have a positive effect (Ovseiko et al. 2017 ). Despite success in promoting gender equity, the Charter was criticised for insufficiently accounting for the experiences of female racial minorities (Tzanakou and Pearce 2019 ), and in 2015, the Athena SWAN Charter was revamped and expanded to include consideration for gender with race.

In parallel, the Equality Challenge Unit (now Advance HE) went a step further in 2016, launching the Race Equality Charter (REC), which applies many of the principles of the Athena SWAN Charter to tackling the issue of racial inequality. In terms of the effects of the REC on gender diversity, a 2021 report published by Advance HE suggested that it was too early to assess the impact (Oloyede et al. 2021 ); however, a recent study by Campion and Clark ( 2022 ) was less favourable, indicating that the award did not currently appear to be a driver of change.

The differential uptake between the Athena SWAN and REC memberships illustrates the complexity and challenges inherent in weaving together gender and racial equity agendas. As of February 2023, 141 institutions were members of the Athena SWAN Charter, holding 124 institutional awards; while there were 99 Race Equality Charter members, with only 38 awards between them. To date, there is very limited research focused on diversity at the confluence of gender and race within academia, with few studies investigating the challenges confronting women from ethnic minorities (Bhopal and Henderson 2021 ; Henderson and Bhopal 2022 ; Oloyede et al. 2021 ).

Our contributions

This study aims to bridge this research gap by analysing the trajectories of ethnic minority women in senior academic roles over time. We also critically evaluate the influence of policy initiatives such as Athena SWAN and REC on fostering ethnic female diversity in academia. In doing so, we aim to deepen our understanding of diversity dynamics in HE and shed light on the real-world efficacy of current diversity strategies.

Data source

The dataset for this study, comprising higher education (HE) staff records from 2012/2013 to 2018/2019 in the UK, was obtained through a custom data request from the HESA. Data were requested for senior staff using two categories of contract levels (see Supplementary Table 1 ): (1) managerial leaders (contract levels A–E2) and (2) academic leaders (contract level F1). Managerial leaders, as defined by HESA, include the Head of the Institution: Vice-Chancellor/Principal/equivalent (A0), Deputy Vice-Chancellor/Pro-Vice-Chancellor/Chief Operating Officer/Registrar/Secretary (B0), Head/Director of major academic area (C1), Director of the major function/group of functions (C2), Head of a distinct area of academic responsibility centre size (D1-D3), Head of a subset of an academic area/director of a small centre (E1), and Senior function head (E2); Academic leaders (F1) refer to professors that do not have line management responsibilities (HESA 2018 ). The dataset provided by HESA includes Ethnicity, which was self-selected by the staff and is used interchangeably with race in this study. For data protection purposes, the data were rounded to the nearest 5.

Data on Athena SWAN and Race Equality Charter award holders were collected from Advance HE. Athena SWAN supports gender equality in HE at Gold, Silver, and Bronze levels: Bronze awards are given to institutions that have an assessment of gender equality and a 4-year action plan; Silver awards honour the measurable success of the action plan implementation; and Gold awards recognise the highest achievement in promoting gender equality (Kalpazidou et al. 2020 ). Some institutions are members of the Charter but do not have awards. REC awards recognise the HE institutions advancing Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic staff representation according to their accomplishments, and receiving a REC Bronze reflects the start of the process to promote racial equality (Advance HE 2023b ). Data on Athena SWAN and REC award holders were collected from Advance HE, with the study using award data updated in February 2023 (Advance HE 2023a c ). The analysis included 169 institutions, with 78 institutions holding Athena Bronze, 26 institutions holding Athena Silver, and 38 institutions holding REC Bronze.

We collected data on the gender and racial demographics of each HE institution at the senior staff contract levels previously outlined. The outcomes were the percentages of racial minorities (RM) altogether, including Black, Asian, Mixed, and Other races, and the specific racial groups, Black, Asian, Mixed, and Other races females, defined as the number of female staff for the designated contract levels for each institution, year, and race divided by the number of staff in each institution and year. Staff selecting their ethnicity as Unknown/Not Applicable were excluded from the racial minority groups.

The independent variables are Athena SWAN and REC award status. Since no institutions held the Gold award, the study examined four categories of Athena SWAN award: non-Charter members, Charter members, Bronze, and Silver. Similarly, to date, no Silver or Gold REC has been awarded. Therefore, REC awards were studied at the level of non-Charter members, Charter members, and Bronze.

Statistical analysis

To assess the female racial diversity of senior staff in HE, the study followed a three-step process. First, it compared the trends of percentages by gender and racial minorities. Second, it examined the female racial percentages from 2012/2013 to 2018/2019 descriptively. Lastly, the association between Athena SWAN or REC awards and female percentages of Black, Asian, Mixed, Other races, and the combination of all four racial minority groups was assessed using mixed-effects modelling.

The models were specified as follows:

where the dependent variable is the female percentage calculated using the number of females in each race divided by the total number of senior staff for year i and institution j ; Athena j is a four-level categorical variable indicating the Athena SWAN award status for institution j and the reference group is non-Charter members; REC j indicates the REC award status for institution j and the reference group is non-Charter members; Year ij is a categorical variable representing year 2012/2013 to 2018/2019 for each institution j ; u 0j is the random-intercept term at the institution j level to allow for the variation in different institutions; u 1 j Year ij is the random-slope term at the institution j and year i level accounting for the effect of years on outcomes across different institutions; and ϵ ij is the error term.

We examined five models for each of the following three analyses in the study: (1) examining the association between Athena SWAN awards and female percentages of RM, Black, Asian, Mixed, and Other races; (2) examining the association between REC awards and female percentages of RM, Black, Asian, Mixed, and Other races; and (3) examining the association between both awards and female percentages of RM, Black, Asian, Mixed, and Other races. In addition, we repeated the above three analyses for two contract levels to identify any differences in the effects between managerial leaders and academic leaders. All analyses were conducted in Stata BE 17.0.

Descriptive statistics

From 2012/2013 to 2018/2019, the percentage of female senior staff in HE increased from 26.3 to 30.8% (Fig. 1 ). The representation of racial minority senior female staff expanded by 1.9%, with the Asian female cohort showing the most pronounced increase at 1.4%.

We calculated the percentages of female and racial minorities compared to male and White leaders.

Table 1 shows that the Mixed and Other racial subgroups experienced consistent growth during the period from 2012/2013 to 2018/2019. In contrast, the trend for Black senior female staff was less consistent. Over the period, the proportion of Asian females doubled, contributing to a similar increase for racial minorities. However, as of 2018/2019, Black females accounted for only 0.05% (15) of all senior staff, with the cumulative percentage of racial minority females standing at 1.6% (475 individuals).

Considering the separate contract levels for managerial and academic leaders (Supplementary Table 2 ), Asian managerial leaders’ percentage more than doubled, from 0.4 to 1.0%, contributing to the overall percentage of racial minority managerial leaders rising from 0.4 to 1.3%. However, managerial leaders of Black, Mixed, and Other races showed no clear trend. Interestingly, racial minority representation was more pronounced among professorial roles than managerial ones, even though female representation was generally higher among managerial roles.

Mixed-effects modelling

Table 2 reveals that Athena SWAN Silver awards were positively associated with increased percentages of racial minority ( β  = 0.75, 95% CI [0.15, 1.35]) and Other ( β  = 0.41, 95% CI [0.11, 0.71]) race senior female staff compared to non-Charter members. Bronze award holders also showed a positive association for all races, although not significant. Concerning the REC awards (Table 3 ), REC Bronze recipients were significantly associated with increased percentages of racial minority senior female staff overall ( β  = 0.65, 95% CI [0.16, 1.14]) compared to non-Charter members.

After including both awards in the model (Table 4 ), neither the Athena SWAN Silver nor the REC Bronze awards were associated with the percentages of overall racial minority female staff. Institutions with Athena SWAN Silver awards were associated with an increase in Other race female percentages ( β  = 0.44, 95% CI [0.08, 0.80]) compared to non-Charter members. No significant association between Athena SWAN or REC awards and female percentages was observed for Black, Asian, and Mixed races in Tables 2 – 4 .

When examining contract levels separately, the association between Athena SWAN Silver and female racial minorities was insignificant for each staff level (Supplementary Table 3 ). In contrast, for academic leaders, REC membership ( β  = 0.52, 95% CI [0.07, 0.97]) and REC Bronze awards ( β  = 0.60, 95% CI [0.12, 1.09]) were associated with increased percentages of racial minority females overall compared to non-REC members (Supplementary Table 4 ). After adding Athena SWAN awards to the model (Supplementary Table 5 ), these positive associations between REC awards and RM female percentages remained significant (REC membership: β  = 0.50, 95% CI [0.03, 0.96]; REC Bronze: β  = 0.53, 95% CI [0.01, 1.05]). No association was found in Supplementary Tables 2 – 4 for Black, Asian, Mixed, and Other races, respectively.

Gender and ethnic diversity within higher education institutions have gained attention in recent years thanks to initiatives such as Athena SWAN and the Race Equality Charter. While this study elucidates some positive strides towards increased diversity, the landscape of diversity, especially at the nexus of gender and ethnicity, remains uneven. While there was an overall increase in the percentage of females and a year-on-year increase in the percentage of ethnic minority females, certain racial subgroups, such as Black females, did not demonstrate consistent progress, and appear underrepresented compared to the wider population. Furthermore, our findings are that the general female trend is for the percentage of academic leaders to exceed the number of managerial leaders, suggesting a progressive pipeline towards greater diversity over time as staff is promoted through the ranks. Notably, Black females are the only racial group in the study that does not exhibit this trend, with very few academic leaders recorded across the study period.

The study found no evidence of competing diversity agendas and showed that higher awards in Athena SWAN or Race Equality Charter programs may have a modest positive impact on improving the representation of female racial minorities. Athena SWAN Silver and REC Bronze awards were associated with increased percentages of racial minority women in senior higher education ranks, although this association was not significant when including both awards in the models. For academic leaders, institutions that were REC members or received a REC Bronze award were associated with higher percentages of female racial minorities compared to non-REC members. Among racial minority subgroups, Athena SWAN Silver had a positive association with the percentages of Other race female staff compared to non-Charter members.

These findings may alleviate general concerns that focusing on gender diversity could hinder racial diversity (Henderson and Bhopal 2022 ), but it is evident that more work is needed to address barriers faced by certain underrepresented groups, such as Black females. Concerns raised in the recent review of the Race Equality Charter that reporting on racial minorities as a single group may conceal the underrepresentation of specific racial subgroups (Oloyede et al. 2021 ) are also supported by this study, and the findings highlight that diversity figures should take intersectionality seriously by ensuring racial data is also broken down by gender. The lack of progress in increasing Black female representation in senior ranks is potentially concerning, especially considering the increasing diversity of the general and student populations (HESA 2020 , 2023 ). Future research should further investigate the reasons for this underrepresentation, and diversity initiatives such as Athena SWAN and the Race Equality Charter should continue to take steps to ensure that institutions are recording progress at the intersection of race and gender.

Limitations

Several limitations of this study should be considered when interpreting the results. First, the study only includes data from a 7-year period, which may not capture longer-term trends in diversity in leadership positions. There are some concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic may have hampered the sectoral advancements made by women (Stadnyk and Black 2020 ), which would not be reflected in this study due to the period covered. The decision by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to recently remove the prerequisite that institutions seeking funding have a Silver Athena SWAN award was also noteworthy, with the administrators citing an effort to reduce administrative burden (Ovseiko et al. 2020 ). Any effects of removing the NIHR link would not yet have been seen.

As educational institutions have resumed conventional teaching and research practices, up-to-date work is needed to understand and address gender and racial inequalities in the HE sectors. A longer time frame and the period since the COVID-19 pandemic would provide a more comprehensive understanding of the impact of diversity initiatives on representation in leadership positions. In addition, the study only examined two types of diversity initiatives (Athena SWAN and REC awards) and did not consider other potential factors that could impact representation in leadership positions, such as organisational culture or prior award status. Furthermore, the study does not address the situation facing male ethnic minorities or attempt to determine what levels of representation would constitute proportionate representation for each racial group. Future research could examine the characteristics of institutions to identify barriers affecting the advancement of certain minorities, such as the Black community, in HE.

Recommendations

The results have confirmed the continuous improvements overall in the representation of racial minority women in higher education in the UK. The two types of diversity initiatives examined (Athena SWAN and REC awards) have been shown as potential catalysts to the improvement process, although some subsets may need particular attention. Improvements in representation in higher education can be a slow process, requiring a range of measures, and the commitment and leadership of senior management are crucial for their sustainability. One approach involves enhancing diversity in the hiring process through targeted recruitment efforts and blind review processes, which remove personal information from job applications (Ovseiko et al. 2020 ). In addition, universities can create a more inclusive and flexible work environment by offering improved work-life balance and family-friendly policies (Manfredi et al. 2019 ).

Another strategy to promote diversity in the HE sector is investing in mentorship and support programs for underrepresented groups. This can include providing access to networking opportunities, professional development resources, and career guidance (Ovseiko et al. 2020 ). Universities can also cultivate a more inclusive culture by promoting and celebrating diversity and ensuring diverse voices are heard (Ovseiko et al. 2017 ).

On a broader scale, national diversity initiatives might benefit from improved data reporting, reduced administrative burdens, and the placing of attention not only on intent but also on outcomes (Oloyede et al. 2021 ; Campion and Clark 2022 ). To ensure the compatibility of these mandates, and to address concerns involving diversity at the intersection of gender and race, a closer relationship between the Athena SWAN and the Race Equality Charter could be beneficial. Given that this study found no statistical evidence of competing diversity agendas and that both initiatives are governed by Advance HE, further streamlining and integrating the two schemes should be feasible.

In conclusion, recognising and improving gender and racial inequalities in the HE sector is a complex and ongoing process, necessitating consistent efforts from institutions, policymakers, and individuals to create meaningful and lasting change. The focus should not be on adding superficial administrative burdens but rather on fostering an institutional mindset to remove structural barriers to equality and diversity. By collaborating in pursuing diversity and inclusion, it is possible to create a more equal and just higher education sector that benefits everyone.

Data availability

All data are available on the osf repository (osf.io/cwk86/).

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Acknowledgements

This research is supported by a Suicide Prevention during Covid-19 grant (C7151-20G, P.S.F.Y.).

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Concept and design: YX, EP, PSFY. Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: YX, TL, EP. Drafting of the manuscript: YX, EP. Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: All authors. Statistical analysis: YX, TL. Obtained funding: PSFY. Administrative, technical, or material support: YX, PSFY.

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Xiao, Y., Pinkney, E., Li, T. et al. Breaking through the glass ceiling: unveiling women’s representation by gender and race in the higher education hierarchy. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 10 , 975 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02481-5

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02481-5

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BA Hons Thesis: Gender Equality and the Politics of Representation in Western Sahara

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Journal of North African Studies

Joanna Allan

When the Saharawis first fled their country – the former Spanish colony the Western Sahara – for the Hamada region of the Algerian desert in 1975, all able-bodied men were encouraged to depart to the frontline to struggle against the Moroccan and Mauritanian invasion. As a result, the refugee camps that gradually emerged in the Algerian desert were built, organised and administered almost exclusively by women. Indeed, women, their strong and vital role in Saharawi society, and the alleged gender equality that they enjoy, are a common focus in the revolutionary discourses and ideology of the Saharawi Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro (POLISARIO). In this article I will explore such images of gender. First, I will focus on how Saharawi nationalists imagine the Saharawi nation and how gender is articulated within this, delineating the contours of POLISARIO ideology concerning gender and concepts of masculinity and femininity. My hypothesis is not only that assertions of gender equality are central to POLISARIO (emancipatory and revolutionary) discourse but also that they are central for specific reasons. Therefore, in the second part of the article, I will attempt to determine what internal and external functions and benefits these gender representations have for the POLISARIO. Finally, I will explore how Saharawi historical narratives are constructed to offer support and continuity to current images of gender.

Ewa K. Strzelecka

This paper explores the intersections of gender, nationalism and revolution by analysing the Polisario Front's ideology, gender dynamics, women's legal and constitutional rights, political engagement, sexual division of labour and the women's rights movement. The analysis presented in this article is grounded in ethnographic and archival research conducted in the Saharawi refugee camps of Tindouf between 2017 and 2018. It argues that the emerging Saharawi feminism is an unintended consequence of the social revolution and conflict-induced migration.

Feminist Review

Alice E Finden

Since the Moroccan invasion in 1975, official reports on visits to Sahrawi refugee camps by international aid agencies and faith-based groups consistently reflect an overwhelming impression of gender equality in Sahrawi society. As a result, the space of the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria and, by external association, Sahrawi society and Western Sahara as a nation-in-exile is constructed as ‘ideal’ (Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, 2010, p. 67). I suggest that the ‘feminist nationalism’ of the Sahrawi nation-in-exile is one that is employed strategically by internal representatives of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro (POLISARIO), the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and the National Union of Sahrawi Women (NUSW), and by external actors from international aid agencies and also the colonial Moroccan state. The international attention paid to the active role of certain women in Sahrawi refugee camps makes ‘Other’ Sahrawi invisible, such as children, youn...

International Journal of Children and Young People's Literature

Hispanic Research Journal

International Journal of Gender Studies in Developing Societies

Carolina Jiménez

This paper examines the different roles women acquire during their experience in post-war refugee settlements. It focuses on the consequences of these new roles in the context of the Sahrawi conflict. The core of the paper addresses the particular form of management of the Tindouf Refugee Camps, which are run by the Polisario Front with the participation of the National Union of Sahrawi Women (UNMS), among others. Is the involvement of Sahrawi women in the administration of the camps making a difference in comparison with other refugee camps? Is any kind of gender dimension being implemented? The paper concludes by taking into account the fragility of the concept of peace, and observing whether the parties have adopted a gender dimension in the reconstruction and peace strategies

Ex Historia

Moara Assis Crivelente

Empires and Nations from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century Volume 1

Enrique Bengochea

Abdelkader CHEREF

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