This dissertation examines women's representations in the Algerian print media. Different methods were used to explore these representations: a questionnaire-based survey, in-depth interviews and a content analysis of data collected from press clippings published between 1996--2006, a period which witnessed major social and political upheavals that impacted women as well as the media. The research was based on hypotheses from the literature on the topic, notably that the media ignore and trivialize women. This study concludes that sexist terms, meanings and processes and sexist assumptions concerning gender roles are pervasive. Masculine generics---exclusionary of women---are dominant. Sexism is not always intended as journalists consider the use of masculine generics normative. Women are also invisible both as objects of news and as news sources This study revealed that sexism in the media and its power in shaping attitudes and views about women continue to elude media professionals. More than half of all respondents disagreed with survey statements related to sexism in the media. This study shows that sexist content is more common in the Arabophone press. But, ironically, the number of Arabophone journalists who disagreed with statements about sexism in the media is higher than the number of Francophone journalists. As a whole, media representations project a patriarchal model of ideal womanhood. Women are portrayed in reductionist restrictive roles and overrepresented as 'helpless victims'. In contrast, women's social and political struggles for full citizenship rights are often overlooked if not ridiculed. While these representations reflect the power structure in society, their repeated playing out 'naturalizes' unequal power relations. Very few journalists challenge dominant representations as ideological positions. The media redeploy the slogans of groups competing for power which made of women their primary battleground. Even the more liberal Francophone press affirms elements of the hegemonic discourse. The oppositional discourse of the women's movement does not pose a significant threat to the dominant discourse because of the differential of power and widespread antagonism against feminism. Part of the Arabophone press adopted the anti-legal reform arguments used by the nationalists against the 1959 French reform and resurrected by the Islamists to suggest that reform efforts were a neo-colonial attack on national identity. These arguments resonate with part of the public because the language of feminism was used in the attack on the Algerian identity and culture. The study shows that journalists are unaware of the involvement of language in setting subject identities, and power relations and of the role they play in passing down and reinforcing the dominant gender ideology. The stronger presence of women in newsrooms has not significantly changed media content with respect to approaches to news stories on 'women's issues'. Women have internalized the masculine-privileging ethos of the newsroom and see the male definition of news as professional practice. Journalists are wary of gender issues and consider that they have other priorities such as fighting for better social and professional conditions, legal protection from government interference and public access to the media. Women who tend to be dominated in the private as well as in the public realm are not seen as being part of 'the public'. A stronger partnership between all those interested in a better future for Algeria can enhance efforts to raise awareness among journalists about gender issues and transform the media from a tool in the hands of the powerful to a tool that enlightens the public and provide citizens with the opportunity to engage in democratic public debate about important issues, including those related to gender. This study is a contribution to these efforts and to the emerging scholarship on gender in the Arab region / acase@tulane.edu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_24200 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Contributors | Rabahi Boudaba, Khedidja (Author), Maxwell, Judith M (Thesis advisor) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Access requires a license to the Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) database., Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law |
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