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Literature Review
3.1 Defining representation The concept of representation is based on the idea that connections between signs and symbols form specific meanings and represent some aspect of reality . Dan Laughey (2009) emphasises that representation is a symbol or imagea way of portraying something pictorially. According to both him he and Newbold et al. (2002), representation is a method of portraying a real object, creature, occurrence, place or other thing. Stuart Hall (2011) has argued that representation is particularly important in cultural studies because it connects meaning and language to culture in the context that language gives expression in order to represent something or someone. There are associations between language and concepts that could be relevant to the real world . The Ideology ideology and hegemony of societies play a vital role in understanding representation. Hall states that meaning is created from the language of the nation in our minds. The screened ideology and structure of ideas are engaged by the system of societys power . According to Hall (2011), representation falls into one of two systems: contact with anything, such as people or events, along with concepts or mental images of those things; and language, which creates meaning and translates terms to create common understanding. That is why 'the term language is used by Hall to mean anything from written words, spoken sounds and visual images, to music, fashion and even facial expressions' . Representation does not alter real things. Laughey (2009) maintains that representation is the method of depicting real things, and that the media are very significant suppliers of representation. In fact, representation does not occur solely in order to describe real things; it is actually part of our construction of reality. This

2 means that representation shares the real meaning of the thing represented. However, understanding a representation is not an accurate way to understand real meaning because a reflection cannot fully describe the reality, although it attests to what that reality means . Representation depicts real things without people believing that media provide meaning to an individual personal interpretation of any country. However, a depiction is not the same as reality. The real entity must be experienced in order to be accurately comprehended. Representation and real-life experience both come from reality, but they do not reflect reality to the same degree. Representation indicates a persons interpretation of real-life experience; media is useful as a supplier of information to structure meaning, but it cannot inform to the same degree as real-life experience (Laughey, 2009). However, according to Gerbners Cultivation Theory, most people who watch television form their view of reality based on the represented world as a replacement for understanding the world . While neither representation nor reality can transfer a fixed meaning to everyone, it is wrong to presume that a situation of anarchy exists, wherein each person has the freedom to interpret his or her representation of reality without basis in a structure of meaning . Representation raises issues of stereotyping. When groups are represented, the stereotypes are used to describe the world and create reasons for group action. Stereotypes help people orient themselves in the worldthey indicate a persons status and value and thus, provide a basis for self-image (Lippmann, 2007). However, The Implicit Personality Theory, shows that the classify classification of human beings beside on suppose suppose (this is unclear - the classification of humans (only) depends on (something other than) the suppositions of people?) of person. Therefore, it can be deduced that all people practice stereotyping,, and this

3 can even be replicated into our the public group:. Than that the media stereotype because the people stereotype (stereotype / stereotypes / stereotyping). However, some groups consider that the stereotypes assigned to them by the media are damaging. Also, if the image of a particular group is similar to the reality of the media portrayal, a leading label is further reinforced . Regarding the recent developments in the relationship between representation and power, Orgad (2012) states that all representation is significant and inexorably linked to power. Power is determined by media representation, and media representation creates power relationships via building standards, conception and principles; thus, representation is important and substantive. Most research on media representation studies a different kind of content of representation that replicates or contests the link between power and discrimination, for instance, sex, race, age and nationality. There are three chief theories regarding power and representation. The first concerns The first concerns representation and ideology, the second is Foucaults theory of discourse and power and power knowledge, and the third concerns the representation on difference and the other (Orgad, 2012, p. 25-26). 3.2 The impact of media Media has a strong affect on societies. It is appears that much companies spend a lot of many money on the in public predicting their tastes and interests. add in media a bout their predictions. Also many politicians spend much vast amounts of money in on campaigns and aimed at improvinge their image. In other saidwords, the media could be bav effecte be said to of children if they watching a violence film influence people's behaviour; a case in point being the effect of violence in films on children.

4 The relationships between media content, audience thinking and behaviour have conflicting outcomes. Media impact has experienced various phases. Traditional theorisation states that audiences are easily influenced. For instance, the hypodermic model declares that media affects the link between what media provides for people, their knowledge and attitudes (Williams, 2003).Yet research arguably does not provided sufficient evidence to connect the hypodermic model to other theories. The Media media effect theory asserts that audiences are actually independent and unsubordinated. Katazand and Lazarsfeld put forworedforward their two step model in which they state that the direct effect of media is not acceptable, since peoples lives influence and are influenced by others such as family, friends and colleagues. They referedreferred to as opinion leaders, thoese were people whose ideas where respected and who receives information and then gives pass it on to the less active sections of the population, however this kind of method has limited effect (Williams, 2003, p, 166). The two step model changed the concentrate focus from people to facus concentrate on how opinion leaders aeffect in the media. The opinions leaders' influence is based on desire and gratification of the public. This approach reflects of the movement from the hyupedermic model which it does not effected nowto a new one., However, effect theory make where the audience becomes actively involved and the public contribute in the creation of meaning. Thus audience has fredomefreedom to depict massages receptionthe reception of messages from media (Williams, 2003).

3.3 The representation of women in the media 3.3.1 Feminism and the media

5 Framing is broadly used in many academic fields. Goffman (1974) first presented the phrase in the mid-1970s and used it to mention a scheme of different phenomena. There are several framing theories; one of which appears when the concept of study needs analysis to understand any portrayal of reality involving framing. Frames are useful for journalists and readers, helping them to consider the meaning of large groups of symbols. Frames also contain ideologies used for exposing the truth for audiences. However, the truth is a tool that journalists use to make news a reality, making the power of journalists unsafe (Mendes, 2011). In addition, framing is important for journalists. This concept has recently been challenged by Eoin Devereux (2007), as demonstrated in his book Media Studies: Key Issues and Debates. He states that framing has no definition, and those who agree with frame analysis provide an answer to questions, and can be used to test the coverage of media: how journalists and their sources work and how this affects their stories. Content analysis can be explained as how matters are represented in the press, on television and on websites. The author also has suggestions for spectators and readers, and for how frames affect peoples reactions in terms of constructing conventions or experiential discoveries. He highlights some questions that could be explored centringcentring around the issue of how media depictions are produced, such as Where do frames come from? and How do social institutions, power structures, professional practices and values affect the selection and shaping of accounts of reality? (Devereux, 2007, p. 138). The womens movement has a rich history of being featured in the news media. While the womens movement has been recognised as one of the most transformative movements of the 20th century, in the early years of the second-wave, feminists faced many difficulties with gender relations across many fields, such as

6 education, in creditfinance, the law, religion, sport and the professions. In fact, feminists were often ignored in the press (Barker-Plummer, 2010). Betty Friedans book The Feminine Mystique, originally published in 1963, found that the model of femininity depicted in American womens magazines and advertising images was what she called the happy housewife heroine (Friedan, 1963 p. 21). Following its publication, the study of womens representation in the media became a more prevalent part of the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Throughout this period, women called for more social, educational, political and economic rights. Before the feminist movement, women were rarely depicted in the media as being independent; rather, women were featured either as spouses or entertainers (Ceulemans and Fauconnier, 1979). One of the most significant current discussions in legal and moral areas comes from the rise of feminism in the 1970s. Thornham (2007) believes that the 1970s represented the positive aspects of feminist theory and feminist media study. She identified that while there is some argument on ideas regarding links between women and media, issues arise when feminists pay attention to this link. Subsequently, three terms appear: women, feminist and media. This progression was confirmed by Scheibe (1979) who states that the representation of women changed slightly in the late 1970s, until which point women had been almost exclusively portrayed in a traditional role: in the home (Lin cited in Meyers, 1999, p. 254). Indeed, during those years, feminism became a central issue in Los Angeles Times columnist Kay Mills column (Byerly, cited in Meyers, 1999, p. 397). She believes that the feminist movement has played a vital role in producing newspaper content, which has brought about a huge amount of social evolution (cited in Meyers, 1999, Byerly, p. 397).

7 Furthermore, feminists fought for the media to recognise different roles for women. During this time, women were underrepresented in the media and were usually portrayed as dependent, indeterminate and defined by their relation to their husbands, fathers, sons or work supervisors (Eltantawy, 2007; Lowe, 2007; Van Zoonen, 2010). Geise (1979, cited in Kuperberg and Stone, 2008) reached the same conclusions when she examined womens magazines between 1955 and 1975 and found that the women therein were portrayed in traditional roles. Also, Lin (1999) studied womens roles as represented in television advertisements in the 1990s. The results showed that more traditional roles were evident whereas men dominated in media in different positions. Although for some, the rise of females working for newspapers makes women issues and events newsworthy. This is an optimistic (for whom?) opinion. However, there are arguments about the challenges from patriarchal principles in the newsroom workplace. Conversely (I don't see the connection with the sentence before), some scholars (Mendes, 2011) believe that patriarchal societies cannot help the womens movement, but female journalists ask for help. There is another trend related to the role of the newsroom and newspaper content, especially where the newspapers include foreign affairs as part of their editorial brief. Eltantawy (2007) maintains that it is important to have diversity in the newsroom. In her view, it is essential that people who work in media organisations, especially those who write reports, come from diverse backgrounds, ethnicities and religions. This is so because it reduces the possibility of distortion, misunderstanding and misrepresentation when writing stories about foreign cultures. Retired USA Today editor, John Quinn (cited in Eltantawy, 2007, p. 385) has argued that the time has come to take news-staff

8 diversity off the special-projects agenda and make it the way of life, as the Founding Fathers intended (Newsroom Diversity online). We the People still means just that. As the complexion and backgrounds of our nation becomes more diverse, so must the staffing and coverage of the free press to fulfill its obligation to all free people in all quarters of their communities (quoted in Eltantawy, 2007, p. 285). Lin (1999) asserts that there are negative effects from physically attractive female models. It is that reflection of how women are supposed to look which adversely impacts womens self-esteem. Moreover, she believes that another issue is that women are represented as seducers more than men because of the reward of using sexy women in advertising. Thats why, Mendes believes, that more research in this field will be useful because it shows how the ideology about women has changed since the 1960s, and traces the development of perceptions about women as depicted in the media. Tuchman (1978b) and Gitlin (1981) were two of the first sociologists to show that news stories are framed in ways that suggest value-laden messages about issues essential to news events. Framing analysis can uncover hidden meanings in stories by determining which facts are incorporated or omitted, which people are used for sources and how information is ordered. In this way, one can outline the ways that news stories accept or reject philosophies and meanings about women that the feminist movement has striven to institutionalise. As a result, one can see that the news media is neither harmonious nor static, but broadly changeable in its capacity to incorporate feminism. One can also distinguish, as Entman (1993) says, the remarkable influence of reporters in promot[ing] a particular problem, definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/ or treatment recommendation (Byerly, cited in Meyers 1999, p. 391).

9 There is a substantial early study of popular magazines by Butler and Paisley (1978). The authors believe the hidden method of news of (not clear - written in/ implied in?) the Equal Rights Amendment, has framed stories in one of two ways: either the ERA can encourage laws that protect women, or the ERA might impair protection available for women. The second substantiation the authors state confirms to readers that the ERA does not alter traditional gender roles. They maintain that articles about the ERA, regarding economic and legal matters, face being framed using the first placement, that [t]he ERA will strengthen your protections, whereas stories of the ERA about family and marriage matters use the second placement (Byerly cited in Meyers 1999, p. 391). One of the studies about the womens movement is by Terkildsen and Schnell (1997) who examined weekly print media coverage of the womens movement over five unique frames from the 1950s through the 1990s. They examined a sex role frame, a feminism frame, a political rights frame, an economic rights frame, as well as an anti-feminism frame. The results indicated that both the economic rights and antifeminism frames had a significant negative effect on any subject attitudes related to gender equality or support for womens rights. Moreover, with respect to similar gender attitudes, the authors pointed out that the feminism frame had a negative effect, while the political rights frame had a positive influence. The study discovered that feminism and economic rights were prevailing in terms of content and accounted for 75% of all weekly print reporting. The author believes that the impact of mass media is minor such that the media frames created a net change in citizen issue support. In explaining the role of culture in relation to gender, Ridgeway (2009) argued that dominant cultural beliefs, rather than individual beliefs, play a vital role in

10 gender roles for two reasons. First, these persuasions are derived from government policies via systems and laws that are deeply embedded in society. Second, the dominant groups in society create power in organisations. These influences come from the opinions and experiences related to certain people, like the white and middleclass. (Ridgeway 2009, p. 150 ). It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the role of feminism in societies. The earliest items of news discussed by sociologists Tuchman (1978b) and Gitlin (1981) show that news reflecting feminist issuesfor instance, violence against women, rape and sexual harassmentwere important to show how feminism has the power to change how news is framed, that is, through a feminist lens. This allows for the analysis of the main points of stories about female victims and gives women who have problems a chance to talk about their experiences. Feminists also worked to publish such stories of female experience, helping victims to find shelters and to make the media understand the causes of violence against women. These activities helped increase the number of news stories about violence against women, and are related to feminist philosophy. A number of writers have remarked on the shift in terminology from the women of womens liberation to the feminists of second- and third-wave feminism. In Women, Feminism and Media (2007), Sue Thornham, points out that there are many differences between two particularly influential books and journals on women and media. The first one is Women and Film by Ann Kaplan, published in 1983, and the second is the journal Feminist Media Studies published in 2001. They differ not only because of the long period between their respective publication dates, but because of the nomenclature used. The journal provides the identity of the author and a key of terminology. In the book, feminist not women is used. The term

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11 women, as a division class, is mentioned in the books introduction only four times. The identity feminist, however, appears over 30 times, in relation to the identity of feminists in the journal, and was tracked by various comments on nation, race, ethnicity, class, age, physical abilities and sexual identities (Thornham 2007, p. 4). Thornham claims that the most important issue in media feminism is the relationship between women and images. , Iits clear that heretical (this word is too emotive - inherent?) slipperiness of the term image it self (Is this sentence clear? The word 'image' is inherently slippery; however , and the focus on the relationship allows for paying precise attention to the ways in which women are imaged, to the texts in which these images a appear, and to the way in which readers/spectators are invited to, and do actually engage with them. Focusing This first priority is to focus on the work that has been done in analysing images of women within paintings, photography and advertising and post-representational media images.(Thornham, 2007, p. 20-21). Since early 1970, the term agenda setting has been used by the mass media and scholars specialising in public opinion scholars to explain to the public what to think about, not necessarily what to think. The role of feminism appears appeared when researchers did not care about what the possibility of the reflected phenomenonwould be the waspossible outcome. Feminists played a vital role because they had a diverse methods of for obtaining news coverage of their aims and activities, thereby gaining legitimacy and membership, resulting in support in their society (Byerly, cited in Meyers, 1999, p. 388-389). In the same year, 1970, feminism, as a movement, in the United States and other countries created a political and cultural agenda that gathered evidence of womens secondary status in society in order to change the gendered social systems

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12 that were seen to be oppressing women. Feminists also studied the law and systems of local media and the relationships between the two, in order to understand how mainstream news talked about womens achievements. The research of the period found that 10% of American news was about women and that less than three percent of international news concerned women. In addition, the news concerning women depicted traditional identities for women as caretakers (you should define this in brackets) and sex objects . One of the main points that researchers emphasised was the representation of women in the workplace: although women have developed in work and career opportunities, the media continued to depict them in marginalised roles. Kuperberg and Stone (2008) looked at the portrayal of motherhood and working mothers, while Smith (cited in Kuperberg and Stone, 2008) mentioned that during the period from 1987-1997 womens magazines had an increasing number of negative articles about working mothers, and presented stories of how untrustworthy childrens day cares can be. Kuperberg and Stone (2008) also discuss Kellers 1994 study which looked at the depiction of working mothers in womens magazines from the 1950s to the 1980s, in which Keller found little shift from the traditional portrayal of the stay-athome mother to what she termed a neo-traditional portrayal of working mothers (cited in Kuperberg and Stone, 2008, p. 499). Following a similar trend, motherhood was associated with race and class, wherein advertisements in womens magazines in the late 1990s showed images of white, stay-at-home mothers. Smith (cited in Kuperberg and Stone, 2008) observed that that between 1987 and 1997 the portrayal of women in magazines was of two kinds, the first presented middle and upper class, white working mothers, while the second presented poor minority women who were single, and were not mothers.

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13 Other studies have also found that the messages conveyed in print media targeted youthful girls focusing on the idea of the traditional, stay-at-home mother who is dependent on a man and is segregated from male occupational roles (see Kuperberg and Stone, 2008, p. 499). In addition, a large and growing body of literature has investigated the representation of women in advertisements in magazines. Soley and Kurzbords studies of magazine advertisements published between 1965 and 1984 (Lin, cited in Meyers, 1999) also found that women were more likely to be depicted as partially clad, or nude more than men were during this time period. They postulated that this might be because women are more receptive to fashion trends than men. Unlike the abovementioned researchers, Soley and Reid (1988) found that stereotyping of women actually decreased after 1964; however; women were still portrayed in seductive actions (Meyers, 1999). Feminists in the UK and the US campaigned determinedly to change the way women were portrayed in newspapers and magazines. However, the mass media continued to ignore feminist perspectives. The second wave has shifted womens magazine interests to feminism, whereas before it was more traditional and more stereotypical towards women. As the womens movement developed in the United Kingdom in the 1960s and 1970s, there was greater attention in the mainstream media about political matters which feminists had already defined (Mendes and Carter, 2008). In the early second wave, radical feminists started showing some of their problemsraising some of the issues that would be approved recognized by the media to try and connect with the mediain order to form a relationship. However, the media resisted the radical feminists approach in expressing their opinions. During this time, womens organisations started to exploit journalists and news as

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14 information resources about feminists, by staging media interventions, especially because media suffered a from shortage of news resources in that period. For example, the National Organization for Women and feminist groups like Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence, tried to discover the relationship to news and get good results (about what? - this needs to be clearer). In addition, the 1970s displayed a significant number of sexist attitudes and representations in the media (not sure this information helps). The misrepresentation of women in advertisements or the misreporting of the womens movement was also seen in the news, as well as avoidance and absence of any type of news about famous feminists at the time. This established a very difficult area of interactions between the media and feminists. One of the themes ignored in the media was the relationship between genders at work, home, education, law, religion, sport and the other specialties. Furthermore, feminists started adding new issues to the political agenda, such as sexual harassment, marital rape and the right to have an abortion (Barker-Plummer, 2010). The first sources of feminist media studies were women studying in universities or working within the fields of culture or communication studies, who became aware of the blind spot that characterised these fields when it came to representations of gender. The second source of critique came from women who worked in the media, who were worried that women were denied career opportunities in that industry (Gill, 2007). During the second wave of the womens movement, feminist scholars and activists continued to be concerned by the portrayal of women in the media (Lowe, 2007). The concepts of the feminist movement are not represented substantially in the mainstream media of the time. In Barker-Plummers view (2010), the

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15 mainstream media disregarded the womens movement: while second-wave feminism challenged fundamental gender roles, relations at work and home, family life, educational curriculum, financial states, laws, religious beliefs, and sports regulations;, these achievements were often ignored in the press. After that, the third-wave of feminism started which peaked in 1992, and saw feminists continuing to use the same methods to interact with the media as the second-wave feminists. Media has taken opinions of the third-wave aboard in using different methods. Some of the reasons why were not clear to journalists; this might be due to the fact that it is related to un (their?) stereotypes. Although third-wave feminism followed the second wave, the third wave was not serious about womens essential issues, which are as basic as anti-sex and anti-men (BarkerPlummer, 2010 p. 186).

3.3.2 The representation of women in the media A large volume of published studies describes the representation of women in the media. According to Mandes and Carter (2008), through the 1970s, several studies were conducted in the United States and elsewhere on the nonattendance of females working in the media, causes of the valuation of women and their influence on society. Hearth and Home: Images of Women in the Mass Media (Tuchman, Daniel and Benets, 1978) was published at a time of social, political, economic and cultural disturbance, during the 20 years whilst media ignored women. This book examined a broad assortment of mediated texts for the presentation of women in popular culture. In addition, the book provided a new vision: it was unprecedented to consider the image of women in the media. Writers attempted to chronicle the popular representations of women within specific

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16 themes, such as femininity or idealised models in advertisements (Meyers, 1999). Tuchman (1978) collected early theoretical and experiential research on the medias stereotypical portrayal of women and the overlooking of alternative roles for women, decrying the media for their discrimination against both women and feminism (Meyers, 1999). In her introduction to the book, Tuchman attracts attention to the term 'symbolic annihilation' (define this in brackets): she depicted sex roles in the mass media and how they represented American girls and women. The book sought answers to diverse questions about the role of the media in portraying women and in how women see themselves (Tuchman, Daniel and Benets, 1978). Tuchman (1978) was concerned about the probable impact of the symbolic annihilation of women on both girls and women. She proposed that girls exposed to television want to work at home as housewives rather than work outside the home as men do. Inevitably, when they grow up to be adults, they do not want any work outside the home or to contribute to the economic wellbeing of their families. The popular media presented women as being disciplined by and wanting to defer to men. A lot of media images reveal the efforts that feminists have made over the past 30 years to change what the media present as normal images of women (Meyers, 1999 p. 13). The representation of women prior to the turn of the century could more correctly be depicted as fragmented images that were not consistent with traditional, misogynistic notions about women, but neither did they reflect more recent ideas about women's roles (Meyers, 1999). Courtney and Whipple (1983) outline the print ads from 1958 to 1978. They state that both males and females were portrayed in a stereotypical fashion. Specifically, women are typically

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17 portrayed as beautiful housewives and subordinate to men (Lin, cited in Meyers, 1999). From the 1980s onwards, more arguments have appeared on the analysis of gender in the media. Some researchers believe that there are indicators of representation, whilst others state that there is more consciousness and concern for the gender image structure. In the same period, the media contributed to the support of a movement away from published models in media; instead of, messages directly drive audiencesdriving audiences in a traditional manner (check the meaning here; is it what you want?). Additionally, feminist scholars asked for more roles in the media that reflect the realistic image of women. At the same time, there has been an increasing amount of literature on the representation of women in the media in different cultures and sex-role stereotyping has been observed in the world as well. ( )

In Britain, women were represented in British adverts between the 1970s and 1980s as career-orientated rather than passionate and as sex objects (Lysonki as cited in Yunjuan and Xiaoming, 2007). In the 1990s, Michell and Taylor (cited in Yunjuan and Xiaoming, 2007) discovered that British magazines represented women either as traditional, deferential housewives or more non-stereotypical, more independent career-orientated women. In Asia, Hamdan (cited in Yunjuan and Xiaoming, 2007) found that advertisements in Malaysian magazines represented women in a more stereotypical role and used them for sex appeal. Some studies suggested that differences in media portrayals of women could be due to socio-cultural influences. Gilly (cited in Yunjuan and Xiaoming, (2007) examined the gender role portrayals in television advertisements from Australia, Mexico and the United States and found that in the United States women were

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18 more likely to be portrayed in homes whilst men were portrayed in occupational settings. On the other hand, Mexico showed less sex role stereotyping than the United States. Australian advertisements showed the least difference between the portrayals of men and women of all three countries. A study in 1991 by Wiles and Tjernlund (cited in Yunjuan and Xiaoming, 2007) found that Swedish magazines did not show any difference in portraying women and men in advertisements, and portrayed both in professional working roles. Conversely, in 1992, Sengupta (cited in Yunjuan and Xiaoming, 2007) compared advertisements from Newsweek and Asiaweek and found that the majority of women were not portrayed in working roles in both Asian and American advertisements. The only difference was that Asian advertisements portrayed women in low-income jobs or decorative jobs. Later, in 1995, Sengupta found that in Japanese and American television advertisements, men were more likely to be shown in high-level business jobs, whereas women were shown in decorative roles. Recently, researchers have shown an increased interest in how women are presented in the media and the extent to which women are represented in newspapers. In fact, the representation of women in news content is still weak. Matian and Evan (2012) presented samples of articles published every day over the course of a year in The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Daily Mail discussing gender and social media popularity, from June 2011 through 2012. They state that when they collected data on UK online news, they discovered that women had relatively little effect on public opinion and a smaller input than men on the discourses of civil society. In a single year, less than 30% of the articles published in the three newspapers were written by women. Also, while UK

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19 newspapers publish much more content written by men, readers do not share content by women at the same percentage across social media channels. Moreover, Kuperberg and Stone (2008) argued with Meyers (1999) that over the past two decades, the media has continued to commonly represent women in traditional roles, even if these images are not related to the reality of how their participation in the labour force has changed (Kuperberg and Stone, 2008). In addition, in studies conducted between 1954, the date of the earliest systematic analysis of television content, through 1975, media representation was not found to have a vital impact on the attitudes of socialising influences, such as schools, churches and families (Ceulemans and Fauconnier, 1979). The term stereotype is an important component in the argument of womens representation in media, and plays a key role in the discussion of said representation. As Poe (1976) has noted, a typical media stereotype of a woman might include the following features: home is a suitable place for women; women do not make any useful things; women are subordinate to men; and, men consider women as sex objects only (see Meyers 1999, p.254- 255). Meyers (1999) on the other hand, believes that popular images of women are inconsistent, and that misogynistic images of women and their roles clash against feminist images of equality. She asserts that Tuchman, Daniel and Benets exaggerate the idea of 'symbolic annihilation,' whilst much has changed since Hearth and Home: Images of Women in the Mass Media originally analysed the representation of women in media. For example, the number of women working outside the home has risen, especially in media industries even though they still earn lower salaries and are excluded from management roles. Since the late 1960s, in the Uunited Sstates, feminists have fought for and won an end to segregated job advertisements in

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20 newspapers, an end to the use of terms of address such as Miss and Mrs. in news stories, changes with respect to gender in the associated press and other news styles, the right to be hired and promoted within the media profession, the beginning of an increase in the number of womens stories, both as news sources and as news subjects, among other things. Though still underrepresented in both news content and media professions, women play a more vital role in defining and developing news stories now than ever before in history (Meyers 1999, 384). Furthermore, Gill (2007) scrutinises some scientific changes in the content of magazines aimed at teenage girls, which include the spectacular sexualisation of the body, focusing on the female body; but also the rise of accepting feminist discourse in magazines; the attention of to womens work outside and inside the home (Gill 2007, p. 184). Also, he states that there have been positive changes in the representation of gender advertising since the 1990s. She notes Furnham and Skaes 1997 study in which the authors found that the representation of women had changed. Women appear in advertisements in the workplace and they are portrayed as independent, not subordinate and not negative compared to images from decades ago. Gill contrasts this with the study of the National Organization of Women which centered on advertising on television. This study was the first major study of its kind, and the New York Times published it in 1972. The study analyses more than 1,200 merchant advertisers seen on US television over an 18-month period. The results showed that more than one third of commercials showed women as domestic agents and household functionaries. The study also observed that there were many stereotypical images of women such as unintelligent and decorative objects, while men were portrayed as being busy and having almost all of the power. The study was rejected because the

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21 investigators were not professionals, so the results were not trusted; therefore, it could have been made by unprofessional coders (Gill, 2007, p. 78). Although Gill (2007) positively identifies some shifts that took place in womens magazines, she also cites some evidence that points to a continued discrimination in either a vertical or horizontal position. She notes that horizontal discrimination refers to any focus on roles or low status. However, vertical discrimination focuses on the point of hierarchy, such as women receiving lower salaries than men. Gallagher (2005) conducted a survey that looked at the making of one day of news (television, radio and print) in 67 countries. The results show that 79% of news subjects were about men and that one woman appeared for every five men. The study did not talk about the reasons for such results (Mandes and Carter, 2008). Gallagher (2005) states that the investigation of worldwide studies of the representation of women in news showed that the media generally portrayed women as sufferers (define what is meant by sufferer in brackets). Kuperberg and Stone (2008) state that although positive changes were evident in societies like the UK and the US, early on in the feminist movement the change continued into the 1980s, according to Eltantawy (2007) and Lowe (2007). This indicates that the representation of gender roles in the media has changed, given the fact that womens equality has increased in Western societies. Studies have found that the traditional image of women as housewives has been substituted in the media with women who declare their 'freedom through consumption' (Lacey, 2009, p. 192) and women who are more ambitious, sexual and independent. Although there have been changes in representation, these changes do not necessarily indicate that the media cares about equality for women. McLuhan (1964, cited in Lowe, 2007)

argued that the media is not associated with equality, as the ideal of equality is

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22 unrealistic and does not exist in real life. Lowe believes that the media is useful for some messages, but not for others. The media at that time depicted women in traditional roles. Rakow and Kranich (cited in Mendes and Carter, 2008) mention that the focus of the media was on gender roles, that women in media are rarely used as news sources, and, even when they are sourced, men speak instead of them. In fact, after more than 30 years of struggle with the media and society, feminism and the womens movement are still disregarded by the media (Meyers, 1999). Mendes (2011) disapproved of the medias trend of theto medias refusal refuse to accept change. She believes that much change has happened, stating that there are five indicators proving shifts have occurred in magazine content over the past 20 years: 1) an increased focus on famous women, 2) an increased sexualisation of the body, 3) an increased acceptance of feminist and individual empowerment, 4) an increased number of descriptions of women working in and outside the home and 5) an increased highlighting of heterosexual sex. Also, Demarest and Garner (1992) explored the dwindling representations of traditional roles in womens magazines between 1954 and 1982;, a time when women began to contribute significantly to political parties. There was a considerable increase in the number of women involved in politics and the extent of their involvement. Women's The investigative magazines of women from 1955 to 1975 provided results consistent with Geise (1979). Institutions that maintained the traditional male-breadwinner/female-homemaker division of labour likewise declined; however, a womans occupation was never presented as more vital to her than her wedding and her family (Meyers, 1999). Mendes (2011) was not the first to examine the exposure of feminism in

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23 US news, but it she is one of the first to methodically examine British feminism in the news, . iIn addition, the only one whose study has analysed resistance to these roles cross-nationally. Because 'feminism is never available in some pure or unmediated form,' according to Mendes (2011, p. 49), studying the news medias depiction of women is a way to understand the history of feminism and the local construction of change. She examined 443 news articles on feminism published in 2008 in the original four publications, plus four new ones ( Daily Mail, The Guardian, The Washington Post and The Washington Times). One of her findings was that feminism was not always negatively associated; in fact, it was often supported and defended. More importantly, her research on feminism in the news showed that the representation of feminism has changed from the past, shifting from being represented in hard news to being represented in soft formats, such as columns and letters to the editor. Although some researchers claim that news reports about feminism are lacking because feminist activism has declined, Mendes argues that interviews with British and American feminists reveal that feminists are trying to attract the medias attention through organising feminist events. She also explains that, although negative perceptions of feminism are decreasing, oppressive ideologies, such as racism and patriarchy, are still dominant factors in society.

3.4. Saudi women 3.4.1 Feminism in Saudi Arabia Despite its prevalence in the west, questions of feminism are relatively unfamiliar in Saudi society generally, and in the Saudi academic world because there are no departments of feminism studies, womens studies or womens history. There are

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24 many reasons for the absence of research centres on womens issues, particularly the lack of associations and non-governmental or independent organisations. All of the associations in Saudi Arabia are charitable or otherwise prohibitedlimited, except for scientific associations. In addition, gender is a notorious word which in militant (what does militant mean here: use another word - conservative?) regions, along with many people in Saudi society, often associate with Westernisation and politics rather than a persons sex. Indeed, beyond certain circles, such as the academically minded, the term gender is not widely known. Women in Saudi Arabia do not hearhave not heard about Simone de Beauvoir or The Feminine Mystique (1963). However, the winds of feminist movements in Egypt and the Levant, Iraq and the Arabian Gulf, which were involved in the struggle and liberation from colonialism, are now arriving in Saudi Arabia through the Hajj and traders, especially via radio (Al-Fassi, 2009). It is clear that Saudi women have a movement; Al Fassi (2009) reported the early history of the womens movement there. She indicated that in the 1930s, the first sign of feminist literature appeared in Al-Hejaz when Ahmad Al-Subaai published The Diary of Hijazi Women. Then, in the 1950s, Saudi women started to publish articles, and they edited womens pages in public newspapers (Al-Fassi, 2009). Although Al-Fassi believes that womens pages in Saudi newspapers have aeffected the Saudi womens movement, there is a large volume of published studies describing the role of womens pages in the news and the editors of womens pages. Some feminist scholars believe that womens pages have played a vital role in highlighting feminism, by emphasising central womens issues, whether it wasthey have been edited by feminist leaders or by some journalists

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25 that have refused soft news (unclear). Other scholars have argued that womens issues in the newspaper were have been much deeper than those published in womens pages, because womens pages could still be dominated by traditional discourse (Barker-Plummer, 2010). Tuchman (1978) agreed that womens pages might be a restricted framework for womens issues. However, she suggested three conditions to be applied to womens pages in order to achieve the objectives of feminism. Firstly, the availability of a funded staff who cover the stories on womens pages. Second, the establishment of a community movement, as in some levels of the womens movement, since the argument of issues in the newspaper could be accomplished more easily than at other levels. Third, feminists who work in on womens pages must adopt a high level of professionalism because they would face an implicit resistance to their achievements (Tuchman, 1978). In what we can call the womens movement in Saudi Arabia, formal education for women commenced in the 1960s, and some women who studied abroad established the Womens Group and the Educated Saudi Women Group. Later on, Saudi women began charitable organisations. The womens movement spread to Eastern and Western regions, and in the 1970s, the womens education movement increased, and some women chose feminist themes in their dissertations or theses in universities. The 1970s produced a group of male extremists who occupied the Grand Mosque in Mecca by force. The Saudi Government gave them the death penalty. However, it has adopted their ideas gradually which has deeply affected the Saudi womens movement. At this stage, it appears that many are constrained in feminist discourse and media. There was an extremist campaign against women in school, universities and media (Al-Fassi,

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26 2009).more dietail Since the 1990s, people in Saudi Arabia have started to think critically about womens issues, especially at a time when the globalisation had takenhas been taking place all over the world. Saudi Arabia was not unexceptional indeed. In addition, globalisation has caused womens issues to be a worldwide issue phenomenon rather than an inside matter for any country. Consequently, Saudi Arabia was affected by western ideas and people began talking about freedom of women and gender equality. Some also adopted liberal beliefs and started to spark debate in society (Fatany, 2008). Specifically, in 1990, there was a critical shift in Saudi society. After the Gulf War started in neighbouring Kuwait, a re-evaluation of the position of women began. Some Saudi women drove on Alriyadhs streets without permission even though women were not allowed to drive a car in the Kingdom. Although the Saudi government punished such women by dismissing them from their work, society started to split into two categories: for and against the womens movement. The first serious shift in Saudi government policy towards women came with the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in 2000. In 2003, Saudi society admitted that there are serious womens issues and that they have to discuss themto be discussed, which led to national dialogue. Women campaigned in the media, demanding their political rights (Al-Fassi, 2009). After several attempts to achieve their demands, Saudi feminists established a feminism campaign to encourage the participation of women in municipal elections in 2004. However, even though women have been getting the recognitionrecognized of thefor their right to vote and standing as candidates, the priority of candidates has not changed (Al-Fassi, 2012). In fact, Al-Fassi (2009) argues that feminism in Saudi Arabia did not exist

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27 as a concept. However, it is like human consciousnesssystems, concepts and discriminatory practices against women under different names. She asserts that she is not interested in investigating the feminist movement comprehensively, but that she describes the limited positions expressed by women, individuals or small groups. The possibility of monitoring the status of feminist consciousness in Saudi Arabia is mainly associated with writing; it does not address the struggles of Saudi women even though they are deprived of education and do not know how much the women of other countries have fought for the rights of all women to be educated and work. Consequently, especially at the end of the last decade of the 20th century, Saudi Arabian society started to think consciously about the need to incorporate women in the development of the labour market when the United Nations announced that 1975 was International Womens Year. This was then reaffirmed in Nairobi in 1985 and later in Beijing in 1995. The Saudi awakening came as a result of changes in the wider world. However, Bakhuurj (2003) believed that Saudi womens involvement in development is still limited, for two complex reasons: first, the argument over the role of women in society takes place within the framework of the Arab Islamic heritage, which is very reluctant to give women more rights; and second, the general progress of development in Saudi Arabia is slow because of limited experience and lack of interest from the general public (Pharoan, 2004). Saudi women are trying to catch up, but do not get enough chances to do so. Pharoan (2004) believes that improving womens conditions and integrating them more in society is an option in Saudi society. She states that society, religion and culture are important factors that should be addressed if any serious discussion

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28 of Saudi womens rights is to take place. Pharoan continues, concerning the religious and secular discourse on Saudi women, that there is a traditional discourse in Saudi society and strong resistance from both men and women to change womens roles. The people who believe this traditional discourse argue against any change in womens roles, labeling feminism a neo-colonialist movement designed to damage the third world. On the other hand, there are liberal, open-minded men who support their daughters studying abroad. The important issues in Saudi Arabia are opportunities for both males and females; however, in the last few decades, discrimination is more evident among Saudi women, particularly in terms of employment and education (Pharoan, 2004). Fatany (2008) rebuts Pharoan (2004) as a male writer who supports the womens movement in Saudi Arabia. Fatany states that although male writers use newspapers to discuss womens issues, Saudi women do not agree with that idea fully. In Fatanys survey, the results were divided into three categories. Half of the participants state that male writers cannot discuss womens issues in the right way because they write what they need, not what women need. The second view, represented by 10% of the participants was that male writers can discuss womens issues because they have more experience working in media than females. The third view, represented by 40% of the participants asserted that it does not matter who discusses women issues because the important point is the objective.

3.4.2 Saudi women in the media In the past, a Saudi woman tended to work in a traditional role, as she used to participate with men in the diverse rural works, such as collecting the sheep, and taking care of her children and husband. Nowadays, with the changes and

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29 modernisation of Saudi society, it was not unexpected that the jobs of women have changed. Although the change was conservative, women did indeed become doctors, teachers, opinion leaders and journalists. Therefore, the forms of womens participation in society increased according to the rules of society (Fatany, 2008). Although Saudi women have achieved success in different fields, there remain several challenges to those who wish to strive for further rights; in some Muslim societies men are still seeking to reject women their rights. Kahf (2005) suggests that women, similar to men, are affected by political situations and the struggles for rights in their own country. She provides an example, wondering what the point is of saying that women dont vote in Saudi Arabiawhen men dont either (quoted in Eltantawy 2007, p. 181). Kahf argues that sexism is practiced by some Muslims in a variety of countries. Muslim women suffer from several problems, such as poor economic conditions and health resources, obscenely perverted rape laws, and the sex trade, in addition to the even stricter laws imposed on women in some Gulf countries. However, Kahf indicates that there are problems with sexism in other cultures as well; she provides examples of date rape statistics and the weak laws against domestic violence in the United States, for example (cited in Eltantawy, 2007, p. 183). It is the common consensus in the West that Muslim women cannot solve social problems without the involvement of Western societythat only in the West do women have realistic solutions, that veils must be replaced with blue jeans for women to be truly liberated, and that all different marriage practices must be brought into conformity with their own (Eltantawy, 2007, p. 183). Eltantawy (2007) examines American newspapers representations of Muslim-Arab womens lives between 9/11/2001 and 9/11/2005. She aims to

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30 understand how women are depicted relative to religion, society, politics and the economy. She concluded that Muslim-Arab women are not one version, but various; assorted in their physical endurance, mental ability, economic capability, and religious principles, as well as in their objectives, motivations, confidence and weakness. She concludes that in the analysis of her study, she has disclosed the difference: there are several pictures, as well as distorted representations of Muslim and Arab women. Many Western reporters focus on Muslim women who wear hijabs and their outer appearance, which is not concrete evidence of oppression and repression. Muslim women wear the vial or Hejab for different reasons. Some women wear it to identify with Islam, whereas other women wear it as a fashion statement. However, the image of the Hejab in the mind of the westerner is fraught with negativity. They believe that the Hejab covers the whole body, including their face, therefore limiting their mobility. Sakr (2007) believes that Saudi public discourse about womens status is mystifying because official statements do not mention any developments advancing the role of women in society even though government policies have shaped significant change in womens education, employment and legal standing in recent years. This opinion is confirmed by Fatany (2008), arguing that in order to understand the situation of Saudi women in society, the relationship between men and women must be understood. In reality, this relationship is based on the Islamic sharia, which is not similar to the global trends of male and female relationships. However, the Islamic sharia bases this relationship upon equality in rights and duties (Fatany, 2008). In the same context of Saudi womens representation in the Western media, the Western press likewise fails to show the reality of Saudi womens lives.

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31 The issues of womens rights in Saudi Arabia has become a popular subject in Western media, but non-academic media sources continue to provide a stereotypical image of Saudi women as 'exotic' and 'erotic' (Hamdan, 2005, p. 61). In 2005, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz gave women in Saudi Arabia more rights, especially in terms of education and work; nevertheless, the media in Saudi Arabia does not focus on these aspects of womens lives because the Saudi media publishing Saudi women's issues in on-stream on one opinion system (not clear here) without focusing deeply on deeply what women are really suffering in society ( Fatany, 2008). Tsujigami (cited in Fatany, 2008) stated the succession of King Abdullah has supported the activities of women in the public domain. Therefore, Saudi women have begun to demand their rights in both formal and informal ways. However, Saudi media, as Fatany indicated, still portrays Saudi women in an unrealistic fashion. In her book, Women in Saudi Arabia: CrossCultural Views (2008), she investigated the views of 50 Saudi educators. She found that, overall, 70% of participants considered the Saudi media portrayal of women to be more open about publishing some womens issues in newspapers than they were in the past. However, participants continued to criticise journalists for dealing with these issues in a superficial way. The position of the Saudi media with regard to reporting the womens movement is more uncertain and confusing. Public newspapers often contradict themselves: one article showed a Saudi woman who has won an international award with admiration, yet another article in the same paper talked about dangerous cases of Saudi women who suffer domestic violence without any support from the society (Fatany, 2008). In addition, 80% of the participants in Fatanys Saudi survey said that the Western media does not understand the

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32 position of Saudi women, and they stated that the Saudi media provides a poor picture of the reality of women and that there are few academic sources of information to inform Western media. Although there is little available literature on Saudi women in American academic studies, Arebi (1994) conducted research on the literary works of Saudi women, highlighting the challenges they face and their 'double struggle' against Western hegemony and the patriarchy embedded in their local cultures. Arebi points out that in contemporary Saudi Arabia, women have been placed at the centre of the power struggle between the religion [ sic], scholar and the state (Arebi 1994, p. 13). Furthermore, Arebi explains that religious scholars are fighting against the religious establishment, imposed by modernisation, by increasingly focusing on issues dealing with women and their role in Saudi society. Mishra (2007) analysed how Saudi women were represented in the American press following the Al-Qaida attacks on September 11, 2001. Using feminist criticism, the critique of Orientalism and postcolonial discourses as theoretical frameworks, Mishra also compared the representations of Saudi women in The Washington Post with representations of American women in Arab News. While The Washington Post overwhelmingly portrayed Saudi women as oppressed victims in need of Western liberation, Arab News held that the freedoms enjoyed by American women were shallow. This could create hatred between nations, and the negative image could solidify and influence behavior. Mishra (2007) looked at 15 articles in The Washington Post. She found that three articles emphasised the new public roles of Saudi women and two which associated Saudi Arabia with the terrorism identified in the September 11th attacks. She indicated only two instances

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33 of gender discrimination in Saudi Arabia: the first is that certain restaurants in Saudi Arabia have separate entrances and eating areas for men and women; the second is the fact that men are allowed to sell lingerie to Saudi women even though gender separation is followed in public places. Nevertheless, from a Western perspective, Ferguson (cited in Fatany 2008, p. 104-105) believes that ignorance about the true position of Saudi women is caused by negative Western portrayals of them. Many Western feminist writers follow a prevailing trend in their representation of Saudi women and Eastern women, stereotypically assuming them to be oppressed, traditional and mysterious. She blames her colleagues in the American media for their agenda to misrepresent, and she attributed the lack of understanding to low awareness of other cultural aspects, including language and faith. Moreover, she states that the American media focuses on how Saudi women cannot drive, and wear apayas (define), and how Saudi men are bad because they do not support women. Although Ferguson (cited in Fatany, 2008) places the responsibly responsibility of the misrepresentation of Saudi women in on the media's with journalists, there is no evidence that the positive shift in media representation is due to the work of journalists, however, Barker-Plummer (2010) indicated that in the 1970s a lot of journalists started working towards the objective of feminism while others wondered if focusing on women and children would be a conflict with journalistic independence. Journalists in that period became aware and started interacting with feminists. However, journalists often faced difficulty with their editors about the importance of the womens movement and womens issues. Moreover, women in broadcast journalism started adding and exploring themes related to segregation.

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34 Morris (2008) states that the major problem with Western misperceptions of women in Saudi Arabia is that the west see only the outward appearances of Saudi womens life i.e. the veil, the incapability inabilityto travel without permission and the incapability incability to drive or vote. About the veil, western societies believe that by women wearing veil its this means that women are oppressed and the man has forced her to dress. This is misconception, men often like women without veil especially when they are living in west countries. The debate of Saudi women dress is take tow viewhas two positions. The fiFirst is of western commentators who believe that the apparent appearence of the veil is like some thingsomehow inadvisable or racist;, others believe that a good way of long festeringit has created a (please check for meaning here) dissimilar societies. misconstruction between tow

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