From trivial to professional: changes in Chinese media images of female scientists

ABSTRACT

Media image has an important impact on professional females’ social credibility, self-cognition, working attitude and continuing development. This study explores the media image of female scientists as presented or shaped by the Chinese mass media in the past 15 years using content analysis and word frequency analysis of 124 media reports about young female Chinese scientist award winners. It analyses the media’s approach to presenting the image of female scientists, their gender and their social role. The results demonstrate that with the continuous opening up and integration of social culture, the Chinese media has paid less attention to the appearance and personalities of female scientists, as well as various gender stereotypes, including conflicts between family and professional roles. China’s mass media has consistently been concerned with female scientists’ professional competitiveness, while other aspects have been less commonly reported. Generally, the image of Chinese female scientists in the media has gone through a development process from trivial and non-professional attributes to professional competencies.

KEYWORDS:

• Female scientists
• media image
• image changes
• gender role
• professional image

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. “Reform and Opening Up” refers to a variety of economic reforms termed “socialism with Chinese characteristics” and “socialist market economy” in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) that began in 1976.

Additional information

Funding

This project is supported by Shanghai Philosophy and Social Science Planning Project [Project No. 2020EXW005].