How do the media frame gender within the election paradigm? How are women located, and what’s their vantage point in the vast repertory of election reportage by the media?
The Network of Women in Media in India has initiated a gender blog initiative called ‘Gender and Media Watch — General Elections 2014,’ to look at the way the media covers women candidates, women voters, and how women are located in the larger political narrative of elections. It seeks to explore the media’s template while reporting gender, and the positioning of women as active agents or passive voters with equal stakes in the election outcomes.
It invites blog posts, with links to media reports/stories published in online/print/broadcast media, both English and non-English media, along with a 100-word comment on the article.
Speaking to The Hindu Sameera Khan, faculty of journalism at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, says the initiative explores how political parties or candidates are commenting on women’s issues and concerns; how women politicians are viewed and represented; how women voters and their concerns are viewed and represented. The blog http://nwmigenderwatch. wordpress.com also engages with the overall media handling and representation of women’s concerns vis-à-vis elections, and their representation both as voters and politicians.
According to Ms. Khan, the links will provide insights into how and to what extent women’s views and concerns are taken on board in the coverage of issues taken up as part of election coverage. This includes “women’s representations as sources on issues not traditionally viewed as ‘women’s issues’ but concern and often have a different impact on women.”
“Usually, only one kind of women’s issues crop up, no hard questions are asked and there is a stereotype that steers the reporters in seeking out a source based on gender,” says Ms. Khan. The data collated and the links will be analysed for later insights, she says.
