Women in Politics and Media Perspectives from Nations in Transition

by Raicheva-Stover, Maria; Ibroscheva, Elza

• ISBN13: 9781628920871
• ISBN10: 1628920874
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2014-09-25
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

Although women constitute half of the world's population, their participation in the political sphere remains problematic. While existing research on women politicians from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada sheds light on the challenges and opportunities they face, we still have a very limited understanding of women's political participation in emerging democracies.

Women in Politics and Media: Perspectives From Nations in Transition is the first collection to de-Westernize the scholarship on women, politics and media by: 1) highlighting the latest research on countries and regions that have not been 'the usual suspects'; 2) featuring a diverse group of scholars, many of non-Western origin; 3) giving voice through personal interviews to politically active women, thus providing the reader with a rare insight into women's agency in the political structures of emerging democracies.

Each chapter examines the complex women, politics and media dynamic in a particular nation-state, taking into consideration the specific political, historic and social context. With 23 case studies and interviews from Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Russia and the former Soviet republics, this volume will be of interest to students, media scholars and policy makers from developed and emerging democracies.

Author Biography

Maria Raicheva-Stover is Associate Professor of Mass Media at Washburn University, USA. Her research focuses on the study of media systems in Eastern Europe, various aspects of the gender problematic, and, most recently, the social impact of new communication technologies.

Elza Ibroscheva is an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the Department of Mass Communications, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, USA. Originally from Bulgaria, her research interests focus on media developments in Eastern Europe, include media stereotypes, international and political communication, gender representations and media and nationalism.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION
1. De-Westernizing the women, politics and media dynamic
Maria Raicheva-Stover (Washburn University, USA) & Elza Ibroscheva (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, USA)
PART I: SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA (Cameroon, Zambia)
2. How the Press in Zambia Frames Women MPs
Twange Kasoma (Emory & Henry College, USA)
3. Cameroon’s Female Obama? Deconstructing the Kah Walla Phenomenon in the Context of the 2011 Presidential Elections in Cameroon
Teke Ngomba (Aarhus University, Denmark)
PART II: MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA (Turkey, Israel, Tunisia & Morocco, Egypt)
4. Changing Roles of Women in Politics: The First Turbaned “First Lady” of Turkey
Duygu Özsoy (Istanbul University, Turkey)
5. Women in Politics as Depicted in Israeli Popular Women’s Magazines
Einat Lachover (Sapir Academic College, Israel)
6. Media’s Portrayal of Women’s Political Participation in Tunisia and Morocco
Maryam Ben Salem (Center of Arab Woman for Training and Research, Tunisia)
7. The Role of Women in Egypt’s Islamist Political Parties
Omneya Nour Eddin (City University London, UK) & Khaled Zakaria Amin (American University in Cairo, Egypt)
PART III: CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE (Romania, Albania, Poland)
8. The Visual Framing of Romanian Women Politicians: A Case Study of the Blogs by Female Candidates During the 2012 Romanian Parliamentary Elections
Camelia Cmeciu (Danubius University of Galati, Romania) & Monica Patrut (Vasile Alecsandri University of Bacau, Romania)
9. The First Lady in Democratic Poland: Twenty Years of Political Tailoring
Ewa Widlak (University Pompeu Fabra, Spain)
10. Electoral Reform and Female Politicians’ Visibility in Post-Communist Albania
Jonila Godole (University of Tirana, Albania) & Sonila Danaj (reserch consultant, Albania)
PART IV: RUSSIA AND THE FORMER SOVIET REPUBLICS (Russia, Ukraine & Georgia)
11. Constructing Female Politicians in Russian Political Journalism Culture
Liudmila Voronova (Södertörn University, Sweden)
12. Representations of Women Politicians in the 2012 Parliamentary Election Campaigns of Ukraine and Georgia
Tetiana Kostiuchenko, (National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine), Tamara Martsenyuk (National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine) & Svitlana Oksamytna (National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine)
PART V: ASIA (Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia)
13. Demystifying the Visibility/Presence of Female Politicians on Pakistani TV
Munira Cheema (University of Sussex, UK)
14. Cultivating Pluralist Counter-publics and ‘the Souls of our Nations’: Media Representations of Malaysian Activist Amiga Sreenevasan
Mary Griffiths (University of Adelaide, Australia) & Sara Chinnasamy (University of Adelaide, Australia)
15. The Quiet Female Politician as a Source Person in the Hustle and Bustle of Political News in Indonesia
Awang Ruswandi (Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia)
PART VI: LATIN AMERICA (Venezuela, Chile, Argentina)
16. Virgin Venuses: Beauty and Purity for “Public” Women in Venezuela
Elizabeth Gackstetter Nichols (Drury University, USA)
17. Michelle Bachelet, President of Chile: A Moving Portrait
Claudia Bucciferro (Gonzaga University, USA)
18. Ultra-Feminine Women of Power: Beauty and the State in Argentina
Elizabeth Gackstetter Nichols (Drury University, USA)
PART VII: PERSONAL INTERVIEWS (India, Afghanistan, Turkey, Bulgaria, Belarus)
19. Interview with Chhavi Rajawat, the elected representative of Soda village in India – conducted by Neha Bhat, (American University, Washington College of Law, USA)
20. Interview with Malalai Joya, activist and Afghanistan’s youngest parliamentarian - conducted by Kirthi Jayakumar (Lawyer, editor of A38 journal, India)
21. Interview with Emine Ülker Tarhan, politician from Turkey’s Republican People's Party and a former judge with the High Court of Appeals - conducted by Eren Erkat (Gazi University, Turkey)
22. Interviews with Irina Bokova, Bulgarian politician, currently Director-General of UNESCO and Meglena Kuneva, EU commissioner – conducted by Alina Dobreva (European University Institute, Italy) & Anastasia Angelova, (University of Helsinki, Finland)
23. Interview with Olga Karatch, Belarusian political activist and journalist - conducted by Evgenia Ivanova (University of Oxford, UK)