Under-representation of Women

The role of media has today stretched far beyond the supply of information because of the outreach and technological sophistication. The media as a chronicler of events, an informer, an educator, a transformative space and a tool to change society has the capacity to make a very positive contribution towards social change. By gradually shaping public opinion, personal beliefs and even people's self-perceptions, media influences the process of socialization and shapes ideology and thinking. The ongoing revolution in the field of media had opened up new avenues for accelerating the development and upliftment of women. In the past few years, there has been an improved and enhanced coverage of issues related to women in print media, especially newspapers. News related to them, have started to periodically occupy key slots like editorials, features, news, etc. But portrayal through media reinforces reality as well as stereotypes. It is believed that women in news are more likely to be featured in stories of sexual harassment, domestic violence, and crime and atrocities, rather than in stories about their professional abilities or expertise. Therefore, it has become necessary to know the nature of the portrayal of women and women issues in print media, so that women related issues are adequately represented in media. This research paper tried to analyze the print media coverage of two National newspapers and two Local Newspapers of Kashmir, regarding women to known the amount of coverage given to women and women related issues and the nature of such coverage. The research study found out that the women-related issues get negligible coverage in both local and national level newspapers; it is 0.8% in local newspapers and 2% in national newspapers. This insignificant coverage is dominated mostly by news stories related to Domestic Violence, Sexual Harassment, Suicide and Crime against Women. Introduction Media is the fastest and most popular access to information for the masses in the world today. With the rapid development of communication and the infrastructural development in recent years, media had provided the masses with a lot more access to information. Media determines the public discourse and therefore shapes our political, cultural, and economic priorities. It also determines and shapes the roles of men and women in our society (Joshi, et. al., 2006). It is a mirror to society and acts as an advocate of people. It provides a truthful, comprehensive and intelligent account of the events, by observing the events, transmitting facts about the events and acting as an interpreter of these events. Media through its increased influence over the masses is able to shape ideas, values, behavior, and concepts of the public. This information being delivered is both positive and negative. Of various fields covered by media, coverage, and portrayal of women in media is the focus of special attention in contemporary times, due to progress made by the women in almost all fields of life and also due to the decades of research, advocacy and political lobbying at the international level. All these have compelled the media to portray an enhanced and progressive image of women and women issues.

Este trabalho aborda o impacto das ações afirmativas aplicadas nos processos eleitorais em razão do gênero, observando a evolução da participação da mulher no cenário político piauiense, desde a adoção da primeira medida afirmativa, com a promulgação da Lei 9.100/1995 até o último pleito eleitoral, ocorrido em 2016. O artigo visa expor a participação desigual da mulher no meio político e verificar se as ações afirmativas minimizaram ou não o quadro deficitário, no âmbito nacional e estadual. Foi realizada pesquisa bibliográfica em livros e periódicos diversos; pesquisa quantitativa de base documental nos bancos de dados dos sítios eletrônicos do Tribunal Superior Eleitoral e de Tribunais Regionais Eleitorais de vários estados. Observou-se que as ações afirmativas, não cumpriram com eficácia seu mister, pois, apesar do acréscimo na quantidade de candidatas e de eleitas para as câmaras legislativas, esse crescimento ainda é exíguo, quando comparado ao número de candidatos e eleitos do sexo masculino, muitos não adotam medidas que incentivem a participação da mulher e sequer alteraram seus estatutos consoante a determinação legal. Todavia, as ações afirmativas de gênero na política suscitaram o debate dessa problemática, não apenas pelos partidos, seu principal destinatário, mas também da sociedade.
Palavras-chave: Ações Afirmativas. Mulher na Política. Sub-representação. Candidatas Piauienses.

RESUMO A sub-representação das mulheres nas Câmaras Legislativas é uma realidade institucional incômoda: teóricos da democracia liberal, movimentos feministas e até mesmo organismos internacionais têm proposto agendas favoráveis a superação da desigualdade de gênero nas democracias representativas. Contudo, o que observamos nos últimos anos é que, apesar da ascensão das mulheres no mercado de trabalho e da melhoria de suas condições de vida, em países como o Brasil, em que a promoção do acesso das mulheres a política se deu através da política de cotas, essa realidade não foi modificada de maneira efetiva. O objetivo deste paper é apresentar dados teóricos parciais que respondem à pergunta do porquê de as mulheres permanecerem sub-representadas nas casas legislativas de países como o Brasil, apesar da adoção de políticas públicas afirmativas, como as Leis de Cotas de gênero.

Women’s under-representation in politics, particularly in the representative body like elected assembly has been widely debated for decades in modern representative democracies. From a perspective of descriptive representation, the composition of the parliament has come to the center of the debate. This problem has been commonly recognized, debated and developed in terms of gender inequality and thus the movement for enhancing women’s participation in the parliament has been led by feminist scholars and women’s rights activists. With help of them along with the development of the international human rights norms, gender quotas in the election have been widely introduced to the countries. Nevertheless, it is still far from achieving equal representation of women in any country. Furthermore, legal disputes and political resistance against gender quotas as affirmative action are not settled. In this paper, I suggest a transition of viewpoint on women’s under-representation in the parliament into the distortion of political representation and democratic deficit. On basis that, I advocate gender parity in the parliament, rather than a minimum number of women, as a requirement for achieving more democratic representation. I argue gender parity is not unconstitutional but rather corresponds to representative democracy. Practically, some countries already have adopted the parity principle at the legislative level or constitutional level for more than a decade. In this paper, I also explore the comparative cases of Greece, Belgium, France, and Germany to find the best way to institutionalize the gender parity principle in Korea and propose to adopt it in the Constitution.

Resumen:
La televisión se muestra como una ventana abierta a la representación de una realidad en la que no todos/as se sienten identificados/as. El motivo de realizar esta investigación se debe a la observación de la marcada desigualdad entre hombres y mujeres en los informativos deportivos de televisión. La intención es destapar por un lado, la baja representación de la mujer en estos espacios y por otro, la muestra de una mujer adscrita a roles y estereotipos tradicionales. En el primer caso, la abrumadora presencia del deporte masculino, especialmente el fútbol, excluye a todas aquellas mujeres y deportes en los que pudieran estar representadas. En el segundo caso, cabe destacar a la mujer como objeto sexual y como madre entregada al beneficio de los demás; pero también son destacables los casos en que las mujeres son ridiculizadas o incluso ignoradas. Los resultados del estudio reflejan esta situación, que limita las posibilidades de la mujer del siglo XXI y perpetúa, al mismo tiempo, la visión androcéntrica del deporte. Su importancia radica en que los informativos deportivos de televisión llegan a una gran audiencia, y más grave aún, lo hacen de forma cotidiana, por lo que se hace urgente una muestra adecuada de la mujer.

Abstract:
Television is window to a constructed reality with which not all individuals identify. The reason behind this research lies in the observation of different representation of men and women in sports television news. This article approaches two aspects of representation: the first one is the under-representation of women and the second one addresses how gender roles and traditional stereotypes are passed on through both image and discourse. In the first case, the overwhelming presence of male sports, especially football, often exclude women and sports in which they are represented. In the second case, women are depicted as a sexualized object and in the role of a self-sacrificing mother; also present are examples of ridiculing or ignoring women. The results of this research reflect on this situation which restricts the abilities of the women in sports in the 21st century and at the same time maintains androcentric outlook on sport.