The lecture first discusses the ways in which women are underrepresented and misrepresented in media worldwide by using examples from global media monitoring studies. It highlights that media representation matters because through media gender images and gender-role stereotypes are transported and reproduced and the existing gender hierarchy is not only maintained but also idealized. Then, the lecture talks about how the media continues to treat female politicians and candidates in traditional gender-role frames despite a considerable shift in the way that society views a woman’s role in the public sphere in recent times. Women in politics are persistently trivialized by media speculation over their private lives, domestic arrangements, and clothing styles. Using examples across different places, the lecture points out that sexism in media is a problem found in both developing and developed nations.
Bruktawit Ejigu Kassa from Ethiopia is a PhD candidate at the University of Vienna, Department of Communication. Her research aims to explore gender and the media in the African context. She is interested in studying the role of media on the framing and construction of gender notions and ideologies. Bruktawit got her Bachelor’s degree in Teaching English Language from Haramaya University, Ethiopia in 2004, and completed her Master's degree in Journalism and Communication in 2008 at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. Her thesis investigated the framing of gender violence by the Ethiopian print media. Before joining the University of Vienna, she had been teaching in the Department of Journalism and Mass communication at Haramaya University, Ethiopia. Furthermore she has also served as the head of the Department for three years.