Gender Stereotypes Make Women Invisible: The Presence of Female Scientists in the Media

Abstract

Interest in the situation of women scientists has increased in recent years. Scientific institutions and governmental authorities have launched initiatives to promote science as a vocation among women. Within this context, the effort made by the media in disseminating role models is of vital importance. The aim of this research is to analyse the presence of women scientists in the media, and to conduct an appraisal of the status granted to them and the image conveyed about them. To this end, we analysed the content published on the websites of the regional newspapers Berria, Gara, El Correo and Diario de Navarra between 2014 and 2019 citing women scientists and researchers (N = 2362). The results indicate that presence is greater in quantitative terms, as is the prominence given to them in headlines. However, the disciplines in which they practise and the stereotypes which are conveyed shape their image, which in the case of STEM areas emphasise their role as carers and their singularity in the scientific field.

Ulusal Basinda Bi̇li̇m Kadinlari: Toplumsal Ci̇nsi̇yet Perspekti̇fi̇nden Bi̇li̇m Haberleri̇ne Yöneli̇k Bi̇r İçeri̇k Anali̇zi̇

“…Kadınların bilim dünyasındaki bu ikincil konumları, bilim tarihçisi Margaret Rossiter'ın ifade ettiği gibi ne tesadüftür, ne de kadınların liyakat eksikliğinden kaynaklanmaktadır (1984, s. xv). Kadınların bilimsel alanda karşı karşıya oldukları eşitsizlikleri inceleyen araştırmalarda, bilimin "sert, katı, rasyonel, gayrişahsi, erkeksi, rekabetçi ve duygusuz" gibi eril nitelikler üzerinden tanımlanmasına (Rossiter, 1984, s. xv); akademik/bilimsel çalışmalar ile hane içinde kadınlara yüklenen sorumluluklar arasında denge kurmadaki zorluklara; kız çocukları ile erkek çocukların sosyalleşme süreçlerinde farklı değerler ve beklentilerin etkili olmasına; kız çocuklarını bilime teşvik edebilecek rol modellerin yetersizliği ile bilime ve bilim insanlarına dair stereotiplerin varlığına (Cheryan vd., 2013;Eizmendi-Iraola & Peña-Fernández, 2023;Steinke, 1997) işaret edilmektedir.…”

“…temsil edildikleri incelenmiştir (Chimba & Kitzinger, 2010;Eizmendi-Iraola & Peña-Fernández, 2023;González vd., 2017;LaFollette, 1988;Mitchell & McKinnon, 2019;Shachar, 2000). Yakın tarihli çalışmalarda bu mecralara sosyal medya eklenmiş; sosyal medyanın bilim kadınlarının görünür hale gelmesinde ve toplumsal cinsiyet stereotipleriyle mücadele etmede sahip olduğu potansiyel incelenmiştir (Amarasekara & Grant, 2019;Huber & Baena, 2023;Phillips vd., 2022).…”

The perceived role fit of women and men academics: evidence from the social sports sciences

“…Electronic media were found to be the main source of career information for students aged 16–21 years (Hassan et al, 2022 ). In newspapers, women scientists' visibility has increased over the past decade but is limited to regional news sections (Eizmendi-Iraola and Peña-Fernández, 2023 ). On television, men are more often invited as scientific experts in talk shows (Hetsroni and Lowenstein, 2014 ).…”

Female expertise in public discourses. Visibility of female compared to male scientific experts in German media coverage of eight science related issues

“…Chatterjee and Werner, 2021;Huang et al, 2020;van den Besselaar and Sandström, 2017), and in science communication (e.g. Eizmendi-Iraola et al, 2023;Fletcher et al, 2021;Prommer and Stüwe, 2020), i.e. the transfer of research results to society.…”