I study a few different things at uni and one of them is Journalism and Mass Communication ☺️
Earlier this year I got the chance to do a very cool data capture, text analytics, data visualisation project. I was able to choose any topic of interest and use a really fancy, complicated, text analytics engine. I really wanted to share what I found with you guys cause I thought it was very interesting.
THE FRAMING OF FEMINISM OVER TIME
Over the last few decades, women have taken great strides in breaking the boundaries surrounding their rights and what was expected of them. However, the past decade, specifically, has seen a definite word move to the foreground of all these developments,
Feminism.
It is a topic area that is of high significance to contemporary social science and communication studies, and to our society as a whole - for a multitude of reasons (all of which have been at the forefront of media representation and coverage in recent times). The fight for feminism is still in full force today, and hereby stems the motivation for this study: to analyse and visualise the evolution of the media's portrayal of Feminism.
I'm interested in looking at coverage on the topic of Feminism from the angle of the differences that have occurred over time.
Map of the most important themes and concepts discovered.
There are four major themes:
1. Women and Empowerment:
Female, men, feminists, sexual, young, girls, society, power, change, world, sex, culture, today.
These concepts are in focus as women are obviously integral to Feminism, as is men's involvement in the topic. Furthermore, the actions and behaviours of women today are changing, and empowering, what young girls in society are seeing and fighting for, i.e. their equal rights. These concepts are demonstrated in the implications of issues such as the gender pay gap, reproductive rights, and women in government, to name a few.
2. Feminism:
Feminists, political, social, movement, gender, people, equality, rights, issues, society.
The significance of these concepts is that they convey a definitional overview of what Feminism means - and what and whom it affects.
3. History:
History, women's, culture, public, politics.
This theme relates to information about the Suffragette movement, oppression, discrimination, Waves of Feminism, the fight for rights and feminists earning their place in history.
4. Work-Life Balance:
Time, life, family, work, children, home.
Clearly the concern here is how are women finding balance between their work and home life - the issue of women being able to "do it all" in the time they have.
However, as I am most interested in comparing the differences that have occurred over time, regarding the coverage of the topic of Feminism, I will look at the concepts according to the categories of interest.
The interesting trends and qualities of the data captured include:
- Approximately ten years ago, the focus was on being a feminist instead of Feminism as a movement - as well as focusing on females and not including men in the conversation. However, women's increasing involvement in the workforce seemed to be very noted - which transitioned into the next five years as a key issue as well (although in a slightly different light).
- Approximately five years ago, work was still a focus within the topic of Feminism but it was framed within the context of time - indicating the discussion was concentrated towards the work/life imbalance that many women were struggling with at the time. Additionally, men became engaged in the coverage. This occurred for reasons such as the need for men to become more involved at home to aid working women, and because Feminism as a concept was entering into media - hence bringing equality between men and women to attention (which also transitioned into the next five years).
- Most recently, and less than a year ago, coverage on the topic of Feminism has shifted almost entirely onto Feminism as a concept and movement - reporting on the social and political equality of genders, involving all people. It should be noted that people was a single concept and was not broken down into males or females as specific concepts, denoting the change in conversation about everyone being a feminist (which has become widely covered in media as of late).
Therefore, through an analysis of a corpus of traditional media data, an evolution in the media's portrayal of Feminism is evident. Feminism has always been relevant over the past decade, but in very different frames over time.
Over the last 10 years, the coverage of the topic of feminism has evolved from focusing on females and their work-home lives, to the promotion and publicising of equal rights and opportunities across the genders - conceptualising Feminism as a movement pertaining to other important social issues.
Moreover, rather than merely just a discussion of issues relating to Feminism, there is a move towards creating a change in consciousness, framing Feminism as a movement for all people.
To those who managed to reach the end of this more wordy post, I hope you found it interesting and enjoyed it.
Would absolutely love, love, love to hear your thoughts ❤️
How do you think Feminism is framed today? How is it framed by our generation? How would you want it to be framed?
Would absolutely love, love, love to hear your thoughts ❤️
How do you think Feminism is framed today? How is it framed by our generation? How would you want it to be framed?
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All data analysed in this study was sourced from the Factiva Search Engine. 600 traditional media coverage articles were captured using 'Feminism' as the key string. The dataset search was conducted in three different time periods with five-year intervals: 2005, 2010, and 2015.
All data analysed in this study was sourced from the Factiva Search Engine. 600 traditional media coverage articles were captured using 'Feminism' as the key string. The dataset search was conducted in three different time periods with five-year intervals: 2005, 2010, and 2015.
