Media, Gender, Politics and Evolving Mentalities: A Discursive Construction of Female Emergence in Cameroonian Newspapers

Caroline Stephanie Jiogo Ngaufack

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijll.20210902.12

| Peer-Reviewed

Media, Gender, Politics and Evolving Mentalities: A Discursive Construction of Female Emergence in Cameroonian Newspapers

Caroline Stephanie Jiogo Ngaufack

Published in International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 9, Issue 2)

Received: 7 March 2021 Accepted: 22 March 2021 Published: 30 March 2021

Views: Downloads:

Download PDF

Share This Article

Twitter
Linked In
Facebook

Abstract

Many feminist media studies tend to show that media’s contribution to the relegation of women to second position. Some even present the media play role in silencing women in the society. Contrary those publications, this paper demonstrates that, despite the patriarchal pressure, Cameroonian newspapers have enhanced female gender visibility in 2013. Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA) as theory helps us to examine how speakers use language to represent, construct and/or negotiate meanings and values on gender. As method of data analysis, we have used the Socio cognitive Approach of Critical Discourse Analysis; it posits that our discourses reflect mental constructs to analyse discursive strategies used on articles. Essentially qualitative, the analysis centres on three main arguments supporting the idea of discursive progressive feminist visibility in politics in Cameroonian media. Firstly the reproduction of international discourses imposing women in politics; secondly, the necessity of women to fight for equity in political context is presented using linguistic strategies; and thirdly, the construction of female participation in public life as a source of hope for change. We concluded that these discursive strategies have contributed to the numerical increase of women in the political sphere during the 2013 senatorial, parliamentary and municipal elections. Although these changes are not yet strong enough, what has been achieved is a step forward to implement gender sensitivity in news reported to citizens. Women are discursively better constructed in media, and the visible effect of the said construction is that more opportunities are given to them as decision-makers.

Published in	International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 9, Issue 2)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijll.20210902.12
Page(s)	39-47
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Discursive Strategies, Challenging Ideologies, Women’s Numerical Increase

References

[1]	Atanga, Lem Lilian (ed). 2013. Perspectives on Gender and Language in Cameroon. Bamenda: Langaa Research and Publishing CIG.
[2]	Atanga Lem Lilian and Djimeli Alexandre. 2015. “Women in Politics and the Media: The Discursive Construction of Collaboration for Female Leadership in Cameroon.” In Discourse, Politics and Women as Global Leaders, ed. by John Wilson and Diana Boxer, 169-192. Amsterdam: John Benjamins publishing company.
[3]	Des Freedman Goldsmith. 2008. The Politics of Media Policy. Malden, Polity Press.
[4]	EADD news. 2010. EADD and the Gender. vol 5.
[5]	Gill, Rosalind. 2007. Gender and the Media. Cambridge, Polity Press.
[6]	Holmes, Rebecca and Jones, Nicola. 2010. How to design and implement gender-sensitive social protection programmes, Overseas Development Institute.
[7]	Inter-Parliamentarian Union Report: the Atlas of Electoral Gender Quotas. 2014. Downloaded at https://www.ipu.org/resources/publications/reference/2016-07/atlas-electoral-gender-quotas on 16 February 2021.
[8]	Lazar, Michele. 2018. “Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis.” In The Routledge Handbook of Critical Discourse Studies, ed. by Flowerdew John and Richardson John, 372-387. London: Routledge.
[9]	Lazar, Michelle. 2007. “Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis: Articulating a Feminist Discourse Praxis” Critical Discourse Studies, 4 (2): 141-164.
[10]	Lazar, Michelle. 2008. Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis: Studies in Gender, Power and Ideology. London: Palgrave.
[11]	Narayana, Ananta and Ahamad, Tauffiqu 2016 “Role of media in accelerating women empowerment” downloaded at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303998838 on 19 august 2018.
[12]	National Democratic Institute (NDI) Report. 2013.
[13]	Nguetse, Pierre. 2010. Pauvreté et Vulnérabilité des Ménages au Cameroun [Poverty and vulnerability of households in Cameroon]. Banque Mondiale.
[14]	Report of the Commonwealth Expert Team (CET). 2013. Cameroon Legislative and Municipal Elections, September 30.
[15]	Richardson, John. 2007. Analysing Newspapers: An Approach from Critical Discourse Analysis. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
[16]	Rieffel, Rémy. 2005. Que sont les médias? Pratiques, identités, influences [What are media? Practices, Identity and Influences]. Paris: Gallimard.
[17]	Tuchman, Gaye, 1978. “The Symbolic Annihilation of Women in the Media.” In Health and Home: Images of Women in the Mass Media, ed. by Tuchman Gaye; Daniels Arlene Kaplan and Benét James, 9-29. Oxford: Universities Press.
[18]	Van Dijk, Teun. 1998. Ideology: A Multidisciplinary Approach. London: Sage.
[19]	Van Dijk, Teun. 2006. “Politics, Ideology, and Discourse.” In The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, vol. 9 ed. by Brown Keith, 728-740. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
[20]	Van Dijk, Teun. 2009. “Critical Discourse Studies: A Sociocognitive Approach.”, In Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis, ed. by Wodak Ruth and Meyer Micheal, 62-84. London: SAGE.
[21]	Van Dijk, Teun. 2014. Discourse and knowledge. A sociocognitive approach. New York: Cambridge University Press.
[22]	Van Dijk, Teun. 2015. “Critical Discourse Studies: a Sociocognitive Approach.” In Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis, 3^rd edition, ed. by Wodak Ruth and Meyer Micheal, 62-85. London: SAGE.
[23]	Van Dijk, Teun. 2018. “Socio-cognitive approach.” In The Routledge Handbook of Critical Discourse Studies, ed. by Flowerdew John and Richardson John, 26-43. London: Routledge.
[24]	Van Zoonen, Liesbet. 1994. Feminist Media Studies. London: Sage.
[25]	Cameroon tribune N° 10334/6535 of 03/05/13 “Decision-making positions: Women seek more representation” p. 5.
[26]	Cameroon tribune N° 10362/6563 of 14/06/13 “un donner à penser ” p. 3.
[27]	Cameroon tribune N° 10400/6600 of 07/08/13: “Contentieux des législatives: le tableau des recours” p. 6.
[28]	Cameroon tribune N° 10431/6632of 23/09/13 “Ewi Elizabeth: The “Iron Lady” p. 14.
[29]	Cameroon tribune N° 10434/6635 of 26/09/13 “Paroles d’électeurs” p. 5.
[30]	Cameroon tribune N° 10455/6656 of 30/10/13: “9e legislature: c’est parti” p. 3.
[31]	Le Messager N° 3777 of 15/02/13 “Les femmes doivent s’inscrire pour peser de leur voix” p. 4.
[32]	Le Messager N° 3831 of 06/05/13 “Que peuvent les sénatrices du Septentrion” p. 5.
[33]	Le Messager N° 3877 of 11/07/13 “Femmes et elections au Cameroun” p. 10.
[34]	Le Messager N° 3891 of 31/07/13 “Les camerounaises courent après la parité” p. 7.
[35]	Le Messager N° 3899 of 13/08/13 “Notre bilan est notre avocat auprès de nos concitoyens” p. 11.
[36]	The Post N° 01416 o 15/03/2013 “Bits & Pieces on Senatorial Elections: Elecam should reject lists without female candidates” p. 4.
[37]	The Post N°01440 of 21/06/13 “Socialist Women urge party leaders to remain tenacious” p. 3.
[38]	The Post N° 01446 of 12/07/13 “ELECAM urged to disqualify gender insensitive lists” p. 10.
[39]	The Post N° 01467 of 23/09/13 “Aspiring MP for Ndu Targets Women” p. 10.
[40]	The Post N° 01475 of 1/11/13 “Female MPs to promote gender, education, agriculture” p. 2.
[41]	The Post N° 01484 of 18/11/13 “Female Councillors schooled on gender mainstreaming” p. 11.

Cite This Article

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Caroline Stephanie Jiogo Ngaufack. (2021). Media, Gender, Politics and Evolving Mentalities: A Discursive Construction of Female Emergence in Cameroonian Newspapers. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 9(2), 39-47. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210902.12

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Caroline Stephanie Jiogo Ngaufack. Media, Gender, Politics and Evolving Mentalities: A Discursive Construction of Female Emergence in Cameroonian Newspapers. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2021, 9(2), 39-47. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20210902.12

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Caroline Stephanie Jiogo Ngaufack. Media, Gender, Politics and Evolving Mentalities: A Discursive Construction of Female Emergence in Cameroonian Newspapers. Int J Lang Linguist. 2021;9(2):39-47. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20210902.12

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20210902.12,
  author = {Caroline Stephanie Jiogo Ngaufack},
  title = {Media, Gender, Politics and Evolving Mentalities: A Discursive Construction of Female Emergence in Cameroonian Newspapers},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {9},
  number = {2},
  pages = {39-47},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20210902.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210902.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20210902.12},
  abstract = {Many feminist media studies tend to show that media’s contribution to the relegation of women to second position. Some even present the media play role in silencing women in the society. Contrary those publications, this paper demonstrates that, despite the patriarchal pressure, Cameroonian newspapers have enhanced female gender visibility in 2013. Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA) as theory helps us to examine how speakers use language to represent, construct and/or negotiate meanings and values on gender. As method of data analysis, we have used the Socio cognitive Approach of Critical Discourse Analysis; it posits that our discourses reflect mental constructs to analyse discursive strategies used on articles. Essentially qualitative, the analysis centres on three main arguments supporting the idea of discursive progressive feminist visibility in politics in Cameroonian media. Firstly the reproduction of international discourses imposing women in politics; secondly, the necessity of women to fight for equity in political context is presented using linguistic strategies; and thirdly, the construction of female participation in public life as a source of hope for change. We concluded that these discursive strategies have contributed to the numerical increase of women in the political sphere during the 2013 senatorial, parliamentary and municipal elections. Although these changes are not yet strong enough, what has been achieved is a step forward to implement gender sensitivity in news reported to citizens. Women are discursively better constructed in media, and the visible effect of the said construction is that more opportunities are given to them as decision-makers.},
 year = {2021}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Media, Gender, Politics and Evolving Mentalities: A Discursive Construction of Female Emergence in Cameroonian Newspapers
AU  - Caroline Stephanie Jiogo Ngaufack
Y1  - 2021/03/30
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210902.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20210902.12
T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
SP  - 39
EP  - 47
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-0221
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210902.12
AB  - Many feminist media studies tend to show that media’s contribution to the relegation of women to second position. Some even present the media play role in silencing women in the society. Contrary those publications, this paper demonstrates that, despite the patriarchal pressure, Cameroonian newspapers have enhanced female gender visibility in 2013. Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA) as theory helps us to examine how speakers use language to represent, construct and/or negotiate meanings and values on gender. As method of data analysis, we have used the Socio cognitive Approach of Critical Discourse Analysis; it posits that our discourses reflect mental constructs to analyse discursive strategies used on articles. Essentially qualitative, the analysis centres on three main arguments supporting the idea of discursive progressive feminist visibility in politics in Cameroonian media. Firstly the reproduction of international discourses imposing women in politics; secondly, the necessity of women to fight for equity in political context is presented using linguistic strategies; and thirdly, the construction of female participation in public life as a source of hope for change. We concluded that these discursive strategies have contributed to the numerical increase of women in the political sphere during the 2013 senatorial, parliamentary and municipal elections. Although these changes are not yet strong enough, what has been achieved is a step forward to implement gender sensitivity in news reported to citizens. Women are discursively better constructed in media, and the visible effect of the said construction is that more opportunities are given to them as decision-makers.
VL  - 9
IS  - 2
ER  -

Copy | Download

Author Information

Caroline Stephanie Jiogo Ngaufack

Department of English Modern Letters, the University of Ngaoundere, Ngaoundere, Cameroon

Download PDF

Sections

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Caroline Stephanie Jiogo Ngaufack. (2021). Media, Gender, Politics and Evolving Mentalities: A Discursive Construction of Female Emergence in Cameroonian Newspapers. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 9(2), 39-47. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210902.12

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Caroline Stephanie Jiogo Ngaufack. Media, Gender, Politics and Evolving Mentalities: A Discursive Construction of Female Emergence in Cameroonian Newspapers. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2021, 9(2), 39-47. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20210902.12

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Caroline Stephanie Jiogo Ngaufack. Media, Gender, Politics and Evolving Mentalities: A Discursive Construction of Female Emergence in Cameroonian Newspapers. Int J Lang Linguist. 2021;9(2):39-47. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20210902.12

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20210902.12,
  author = {Caroline Stephanie Jiogo Ngaufack},
  title = {Media, Gender, Politics and Evolving Mentalities: A Discursive Construction of Female Emergence in Cameroonian Newspapers},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {9},
  number = {2},
  pages = {39-47},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20210902.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210902.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20210902.12},
  abstract = {Many feminist media studies tend to show that media’s contribution to the relegation of women to second position. Some even present the media play role in silencing women in the society. Contrary those publications, this paper demonstrates that, despite the patriarchal pressure, Cameroonian newspapers have enhanced female gender visibility in 2013. Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA) as theory helps us to examine how speakers use language to represent, construct and/or negotiate meanings and values on gender. As method of data analysis, we have used the Socio cognitive Approach of Critical Discourse Analysis; it posits that our discourses reflect mental constructs to analyse discursive strategies used on articles. Essentially qualitative, the analysis centres on three main arguments supporting the idea of discursive progressive feminist visibility in politics in Cameroonian media. Firstly the reproduction of international discourses imposing women in politics; secondly, the necessity of women to fight for equity in political context is presented using linguistic strategies; and thirdly, the construction of female participation in public life as a source of hope for change. We concluded that these discursive strategies have contributed to the numerical increase of women in the political sphere during the 2013 senatorial, parliamentary and municipal elections. Although these changes are not yet strong enough, what has been achieved is a step forward to implement gender sensitivity in news reported to citizens. Women are discursively better constructed in media, and the visible effect of the said construction is that more opportunities are given to them as decision-makers.},
 year = {2021}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Media, Gender, Politics and Evolving Mentalities: A Discursive Construction of Female Emergence in Cameroonian Newspapers
AU  - Caroline Stephanie Jiogo Ngaufack
Y1  - 2021/03/30
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210902.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20210902.12
T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
SP  - 39
EP  - 47
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-0221
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210902.12
AB  - Many feminist media studies tend to show that media’s contribution to the relegation of women to second position. Some even present the media play role in silencing women in the society. Contrary those publications, this paper demonstrates that, despite the patriarchal pressure, Cameroonian newspapers have enhanced female gender visibility in 2013. Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA) as theory helps us to examine how speakers use language to represent, construct and/or negotiate meanings and values on gender. As method of data analysis, we have used the Socio cognitive Approach of Critical Discourse Analysis; it posits that our discourses reflect mental constructs to analyse discursive strategies used on articles. Essentially qualitative, the analysis centres on three main arguments supporting the idea of discursive progressive feminist visibility in politics in Cameroonian media. Firstly the reproduction of international discourses imposing women in politics; secondly, the necessity of women to fight for equity in political context is presented using linguistic strategies; and thirdly, the construction of female participation in public life as a source of hope for change. We concluded that these discursive strategies have contributed to the numerical increase of women in the political sphere during the 2013 senatorial, parliamentary and municipal elections. Although these changes are not yet strong enough, what has been achieved is a step forward to implement gender sensitivity in news reported to citizens. Women are discursively better constructed in media, and the visible effect of the said construction is that more opportunities are given to them as decision-makers.
VL  - 9
IS  - 2
ER  -

Copy | Download