The Gendered Representation of Refugees Using Visual Frames in the Main Western European Media
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The Gendered Representation of Refugees Using Visual Frames in the Main Western European Media Javier J. Amores1 · Carlos Arcila‑Calderón1 · Beatriz González‑de‑Garay1
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract In this paper we content analysed the way female refugees are depicted in 500 journalistic photographs published between 2013 and 2017 on ten of the news digital media with the greatest public impact from five of the Western European countries most affected by the wave of migration during the refugee crisis (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom). The most representative media of western culture and with an international projection were selected. We tested from the visual framing theory if women were underrepresented in these main European media, if they were associated to religious symbols more frequently than male refugees, and if they were depicted connotatively in a different way than male refugees. We found that, indeed, there was an underrepresentation of female refugees in the photographs of the analysed European media, and female refugees were more frequently associated with religious symbols than male. Moreover, female refugees were more frequently depicted as victims compared to male, while male refugees were more frequently depicted in burden or threat frames compared to female, so that in a more negative but also more active way. This means that, both through the under-representation and through the way in which they are represented in the European media photographs, female refugees are being associated with a passive and secondary role. European media are contributing to reinforce the so-called “symbolic annihilation” of women by condescendingly showing female refugee as an inoffensive, vulnerable, and submissive subject. Keywords Visual framing · Gender studies · Media studies · Refugee crisis · Migrant crisis · Gendered representation · European media · Western media · News photographs
* Javier J. Amores [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
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Gender Issues
Introduction The recent conflicts in the Middle East, exacerbated by the global economic crisis, have produced the largest wave of migrants and refugees in recent history. At present, the total number of forcibly displaced people far exceeds the figures recorded during World War II. This situation has led to growing social and academic interest in understanding how the media represent refugees and migrants in refugee-like situations. However, few studies have focused on visual images of migrants or specifically on the refugee figure, despite their enormous persuasive impact. This study aims to fill this gap by analysing the photographs of refugees and other types of forced migrants (recognized refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants using refugee routes) published by the most popular news media in five of the European countries most representative of Western culture and most affected by the wave of migrat
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