Gender Representation in the Media

Develop critical skills for analysing the media through a gendered lens

From Beyoncé performing in front of a lit up ‘Feminist’ sign to the #MeToo movement, feminist issues have never seemed so popular in the media. However, research still consistently highlights the under-representation of women in the media, especially amongst marginalised groups.

On this course, you’ll be introduced to key gender issues. You’ll explore female representation in areas from news to sports to feature films, and discover why equal representation still looks a long way off.

You’ll also consider what can be done to offer alternative depictions of women to the mainstream media.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: On this special extended version of the course the Educators will continue to join the discussions and respond to individual comments but less frequently; this will likely mean that they will not be able to respond to each individual comment or question. Please also note that there will not be any Live Stream sessions during this run, however links to recordings of previous sessions will be included for your benefit.

This course is designed for anyone who wants to be able to engage with media more critically, or anyone who wants to learn more about gender inequality, female media representation, media studies, feminist activism and feminist analysis.

• Why study gender and the media?
• Welcome to the course
• Welcome to the week
• Key concepts in gender studies
• Key concepts in media studies
• Reflection
• Monitoring gender in the media
• Welcome to week two
• Where are women in the news?
• How are women represented in the news?
• Where are women on screen?
• Reflection
• Politics
• Welcome to week three
• Women politicians and the media
• The gendering of political communications
• Politics online
• Reflection
• Violence
• Welcome to week four
• News about men's violence against women
• Men's violence against women in fiction
• Speaking out
• Media campaigns against men's violence against women
• Reflection
• Sexualisation and body image
• Welcome to week five
• Sexualisation
• Body image
• Social media
• Reflection
• Sport
• Welcome to week six
• Understanding gender, media and sport intersectionally
• Media monitoring of women's sports coverage globally
• Game changers?
• Women in sports and media
• Reflection
• Feminist media and digital media
• Welcome to week seven
• Resistance in places - feminist spaces
• Resistance in print - feminist media
• Resistance in pixels - feminist digital media
• Reflection