Constructing Stereotypes in Media: A Critical Analysis on the Representation of Women in Tanzanian Newspapers

DOI

10.2991/iccsr-18.2018.68How to use a DOI?

Keywords

media; newspaper; stereotyped gender roles; women and power relations

Abstract

Over centuries the history of women representation in media is a plethora of stereotypes and stigmatisation. Findings from studies confirm that media do produce and reproduce ways of seeing our culture. In this light, this study sets out to critically analyse the representation of women in selected Tanzanian newspapers. The study particularly interrogates ways in which media discourse serves as avenue to construct women gendered stereotypes and stigmatisation to the community. Two selected newspapers namely, Ijumaa and HabariLeo were analysed through Critical Discourse Analysis and Semiotics Frameworks. Through analysis and interpretations of the selected newspapers it can be argued women representation is ideologically representative of the existing power relations that affects the women subgroup in the Tanzanian society. Thus, women representation in the selected newspaper is ascribed with gendered stereotyped and appendage roles compared to their counterparts to appeal men consumers and those with male-defined interest. However, with increasing efforts to impart awareness on equality and women rights today significant progress in ascribing women with positive roles is underway in the same way to appeal taste of the consumers of the service and products.

Copyright

© 2018, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Stanley Elias
PY  - 2018/07
DA  - 2018/07
TI  - Constructing Stereotypes in Media: A Critical Analysis on the Representation of Women in Tanzanian Newspapers
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference of Communication Science Research (ICCSR 2018)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 307
EP  - 310
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/iccsr-18.2018.68
DO  - 10.2991/iccsr-18.2018.68
ID  - Elias2018/07
ER  -