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Background: The empowerment of women has implications on the health and dietary needs of children. Using the survey-based women's empowerment index (SWPER), we examined the association between women's empowerment and dietary diversity among children aged 6–23 months in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: Data from the Demographic and Health Surveys of 21 countries were utilized. Descriptive spatial map was used to present the proportions of dietary diversity among the children. Multilevel binary logistic regression was used to examine the association between SWPER and dietary diversity. Results: Overall, 22.35% of children aged 6–23 months had adequate minimum dietary diversity (MDD) in sub-Saharan Africa. The countries with the highest proportions of adequate MDD were Angola, Benin, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and South Africa. South Africa had the highest proportion of MDD (61.00%), while Liberia reported the least (9.12%). Children born to mothers who had high social independence were more likely to have adequate MDD compared to those with low social independence [aOR = 1.31, 95% CI 1.21, 1.41]. In addition, children born to women with medium [aOR = 1.12; 95% CI 1.03, 1.21] and high decision-making [aOR = 1.25, 95% CI 1.14, 1.37] were more likely to receive MDD than those with low decision-making. Conclusions: Insufficient dietary diversity is evident among children aged 6–23 months in sub-Saharan Africa. MDD in children is influenced by women's empowerment. Policies and interventions promoting women's empowerment can enhance MDD, especially for vulnerable groups in rural and poorer households. It is crucial to leverage media and poverty reduction strategies to improve MDD among children in sub-Saharan African countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty remains a serious problem in Nigeria; women are among those mostly affected and are often deprived in many ways. This paper uses the multidimensional approach to examine poverty levels among women in Ibadan South West Local Government Area, Oyo State. Primary data was obtained from a sample of 393 women across the population density areas on socio-economic characteristics and poverty indicators (health, education and standard of living). The Alkire-Foster multidimensional approach was used to estimate the multidimensional poverty index (MPI) for the sampled women. The weights assigned to these poverty dimensions were generated using the multiple correspondence analysis. The MPI for each woman were categorized as abject poor (deprived in at least two dimensions), moderate poor (deprived in one dimension) and non-poor (not deprived in any dimension). The mean age of the women was 30.8±6.7 years. One-third of the respondents were mostly artisans (30.0%) and traders (26.5%), and 52.2% had completed secondary education. About 23.0% of women were deprived in education, 61.0% in health and 70.4% in standard of living. Based on location, the study indicated that the women in the medium and high density areas are mostly deprived in the different dimensions of poverty. When the poverty cut off K= 1, poverty incidence is 94% and 51.7% of the women were multidimensional poor as against 28% poverty incidence and 19.6% poor women when k=3 using the Alkire-Foster Multidimensional methodology. This implies that when women are deprived in at least one dimension; 51.7% are multidimensional poor. More than half of the respondents (51.0%) were categorized as moderately poor, 26.0% were abject poor while 23.2% were non-poor. This study revealed high poverty levels among women in Ibadan South West Local Government Area. Deprivation in standard of living and health in the three areas could be improved upon through the concerted effort of the government with appropriate ministries by initiating more productive and empowerment programs to improve their purchasing power and disseminating educative information that will improve their nutritional status through health talks to reduce the level of multidimensional poverty in urban locations respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the push for family-oriented eugenics and pronatalism within the United States, chronicling social and political movements and their impact on the American mother. The essay illustrates this problem through Edith Summer Kelley's Weeds (1923), a novel that utilizes eugenic rhetoric of the American Progressive Era to expose problems in American maternity and parturition. Kelley's female protagonists present not only a crisis of motherhood but also a crisis for American families, as unhappy mothers symbolized issues of dysfunction. This reading positions itself alongside historical examples of pronatalism and eugenics, and utilizes American media to argue that women felt compelled to reproduce in order to meet national standards of progress during the post-World War I era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The unstoppable and exponential growth of social media use has given rise to concerns about the consequent effects on users. Among the major concerns are the psychological consequences, which have received considerable academic attention. The current mixed-methods research aims to examine women's social media use and its effects on their psychological well-being in a patriarchal culture, namely Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach: This study employs a mixed-method research methodology. The quantitative section collected data from 240 women and used structural equation modelling to test the proposed hypotheses. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the in-depth interviews with ten women. Findings: The integration of the findings revealed increased use of social media by women and its beneficial effects (communication and socialisation, escapism and self-presentation), though qualitative findings revealed the cultural implications and obstacles that women face (online anonymity and digital asylum). The study calls attention to women's social media usage patterns and the resulting effects on women's psychological well-being in a low-income country with a patriarchal social structure. Originality/value: Most research remains limited to Western societies and young populations. The situation is somewhat different in developing economies with traditionally preserved cultures compared to Western societies. This study uniquely examines the influence of social media on psychological well-being in a developing country with a special cultural context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite technological, political and economic progress, Pakistan is still a traditionally patriarchal society, and cultural norms curb women's freedom of socialization, which contributes to poor mental health. The digital technology spaces are rampant with male dominance, and offline cultural behaviours are replicated. Therefore, the current research in Pakistan intends to focus solely on women, their social media uses and the consequent impact on their psychological well-being. Furthermore, the mediation role of social capital is explored, which is linked to women's socialization. In virtual communication, women can expand their connection or remain limited to known people. Methods: An online survey collected 240 responses from women social media users. The questionnaire was divided into demographics, social media use patterns like access, online time, frequency of use, social media uses, online social capital and psychological well-being. The obtained responses were statistically analyzed using Smart PLS. Results: Pakistani women use social media extensively; however, their uses are culturally influenced. The women use social media and socialize online but do not openly disclose their personalities and emotions to extend the connection. They seek information only from acquaintances and do not trust newly developed online contacts. Therefore, the mediation role of bonding social capital is significant, referring to the importance of close ties and trust in psychological well-being. Though virtual spaces provide an opportunity for bridging social capital, women use social media for socialization; however, it doesn't contribute to women's psychological well-being. Conclusion: Despite the higher penetration of digital technologies, cultural power still rules in developing countries like Pakistan. Social media uses are gender- and culturally specific, contributing to psychological well-being and developing social capital. The results from Pakistani society recommend ensuring a secure digital experience for women to get maximum benefits from social media and enhance their psychological well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The book review discusses Philip Sipiora's edited collection, "Ida Lupino, Filmmaker," which explores the work of pioneering actress, director, producer, and screenwriter Ida Lupino. The collection includes sixteen chapters written by various scholars, covering a wide range of topics related to Lupino's work in film and television. The book examines Lupino's directorial ventures, such as "The Hitch-hiker" and "The Bigamist," and also explores her underrepresented directing roles in television, including Westerns. The review praises the collection for its engaging and varied content, which adds depth to the limited existing scholarship on Lupino and addresses wider socio-historical, gender, and industrial issues. [Extracted from the article]

The Journal and Mass Communication Quarterly (JMCQ) has documented the struggle members of marginalized groups face in their quest to be treated equally in media content and careers. In this analysis, we note that the journal's century of articles documents the many historical shifts in the representation and treatment of women and minorities in media settings. Articles emphasize the lack of opportunities for advancement, management issues, and systemic inequities perpetuated by media content and practices. Less common were articles that examine the treatment of students and faculty in academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The political participation of women, in contrast to their male counterparts, is a basic prerequisite for gender equality and democracy. It facilitates women's direct participation in the decision-making process and is a means of ensuring better accountability for women. Various factors, including the media, influence political participation by raising awareness and setting the agenda, thereby changing or strengthening social mores and mobilizing citizens to progressive action. The emergence of social media has made information dissemination more democratic, thereby raising people's awareness of political participation. This paper examines the role of social media in women's political participation in the Mishing community, a patrilineal society where women's participation is lower. The study found that social media raises awareness and provides information for informed decision making, but does not necessarily increase political participation among women from the Mishing community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advancements in technology, along with increased internet and smartphone availability, have resulted in a substantial global increase in social media usage. Social media functions as a communication network. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of social media has increased. Women can now engage in conversations, debates, and discussions on a wide range of topics on different social media platforms. This study seeks to understand women's empowerment through social media. This study examines the impact of social media on women's lives and its potential to empower them. The researcher employed a quantitative research approach. The study involves empirical research conducted via an online survey. This study collected primary data from 100 women living in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Google Forms included a Likert scale with closed-ended questions. The data has been analysed using SPSS in the study. The study concludes that social media empowers women through chances for empowerment, awareness-raising, and connecting with others. It promotes women to exchange experiences, accomplishments, and resources and enhances audience engagement through the use of hashtags. As internet usage rises, women are becoming more informed about their rights and gaining access to novel opportunities. Social media disrupts social gender conventions and advocates for a fair and just world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women continue to be economically disadvantaged and under-represented in positions of power and leadership. A discursive disjunction between cultural and media representations of women and leadership has been implicated in these continuing inequalities. We address this issue through an analysis of the ways in which prominent women leaders were portrayed in a UK radio series, BBC Radio 4's "Profile" broadcast between July 2011 and July 2013. Verbatim transcripts of 12 broadcasts featuring women were analysed within a critical feminist framework, to explore the ways in which these women leaders were discursively constructed. Our analysis explicates three constructions of "women leaders": as "traditionally" feminine; as having to balance "masculine" and "feminine" attributes; and as exceptional women who may nevertheless fail. We conclude that the impact of equality legislation continues to be limited while androcentric norms prevail and that we therefore need more gynocentric ways of imagining women leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents results from one of the first global studies on the relationship between media sexism and the share of candidates for the lower chamber of national parliaments who are women. Data on media sexism come from the Global Media Monitoring Project, the most reliable worldwide source for media coverage from a gender perspective. The data on share of female political candidates come from the Inter-Parliamentary Union. The results show that that there is, even when controlling for the number of women in parliament, electoral system, gender quotas, level of human development, level of women's rights, freedom from corruption, and media access, a significant relationship between media sexism—measured as (i) the share of all news subjects that are women and (ii) the share of all news subjects portrayed in the function of experts who are women—and the share of women candidates for parliament: the higher the level of media sexism, the lower the share of women candidates. The theory discussed zooms in on a bystander effect: We hypothesize that sexist portrayals of women in the media stifle ambition among women who, in a less sexist media environment, would be willing to stand as political candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a hybrid analysis combining manual content analysis of 9,131 sources in 5,544 news stories across 75 publications, with computational gender recognition producing 551,102 names from 320,228 articles across 125 newspapers. The article investigates the significance of structural features for the presence of women in the news. Results show female sources are only equal to men as ordinary citizens and children, and only in lifestyle content. Among the structural features examined, only local distribution and a circulation less than 5,000 exhibit improvements in female representation. Ownership, distribution frequency, market position, and direct press support had little or no effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Studies show that public service broadcasters narrow knowledge gaps between politically interested and disinterested because such contexts encourage incidental learning. This reasoning, however, fails to explain why gendered knowledge differences persist in environments that equalize learning. Using stereotype threat theory, I argue that news content emits symbolic gender cues that encourage or discourage women to become politically informed. Methods Employing European Election Study 2009 voter data ( N = 27,000), and multilingual news content analyses from 27 E.U. member states, I test whether more egalitarian representation of women as newsmakers correlates with narrower gaps between men and women. Results Aggregate and multilevel models show that greater representation of women as newsmakers correlates with smaller gaps in news exposure and political knowledge. Analyses also consider competing explanations such as women's electoral representation, education, labor force participation, and knowledge item guessing rates. Conclusion Findings support the theoretical expectations regarding symbolic cues and knowledge gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper blends historical retrieval, feminist political intervention, and an effort to think about our fields from the perspective of assemblage theory in an attempt to remember the founding mothers of the fields of communication and media studies. Entwined humanistic and posthumanistic impulses create space for voices, labors, bodies, and other material things that deserve our attention. At the narrative and moral core of the story is a group of remarkable yet unsung women who, from the late 1930s through the early 1950s, helped to invent practices, produce research, shape thinking, and establish social relationships that laid foundations for media and communication study in the United States and the world. These women are the figures we call the founding mothers of our field. Focusing on the Paul Lazarsfeld-led Office of Radio Research (ORR) and the Bureau of Applied Social Research (the Bureau) from 1937 to 1949, we attend to four representative women—Herta Herzog, Hazel Gaudet, Thelma Ehrlich Anderson, and Rose K. Goldsen—as means of illustrating roles played by women in an assemblage of human and nonhuman agents. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A case study is presented of the marketing of the film "Best Friends Forever" in 2012 in terms of issues such as the distribution of independent films, female media employees in creative versus skilled labor roles, and job descriptions for above versus below the line labor on films. Gender equality in the entertainment industry, viral marketing, and film funding are discussed, as well as actresses and producers Brea Grant and Vera Miao.

As of 1926, the Associated Press had not hired women to work as reporters. With the appointment of Kent Cooper as general manager, the first woman reporter was hired in that year, followed by the hiring of seven more women who worked at either the AP's New York or Washington, D.C., bureaus between 1928 and 1931. These women reporters provided American readers with numerous stories of women's activities, their style of dress, and other social news. They covered women athletes, women active in politics, and wives of officials, but they did not cover the most important assignments because that territory was claimed by their male counterparts. For the first time, AP assigned women to cover the wives of the presidential candidates, women at the political conventions, and women in the presidential inaugurations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this article is on Arab women journalists and how they negotiate their position in news and current affairs programmes. The main aim is to illustrate how gender identity can be appropriated and contested. Drawing on a recent piece of field-work among a large sample of Arab men and women journalists in transnational media, I aim to show how women interpret the boundaries inside the newsroom, and their strategies to overcome these boundaries. Also, drawing on post-feminist debates, I argue that Arab female journalists like to see themselves as free agents responsible for their career routes to consolidate their journalistic experience and professionalism; the reality, however, is that they end up reproducing the dominant structure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In 1965, Helen Gurley Brown (1922-2012) assumed the top editing job at Cosmopolitan and transformed it from a failing title into one of magazine publishing's greatest successes. During an era of increasing publication specialization, Cosmopolitan was one of the few magazines to target and celebrate women's growing economic and social independence. Much of the scholarship on and critical appraisals of Brown and Cosmopolitan have focused on sexual politics and issues of taste. This paper takes an institutional approach by examining Brown's professional practices and how they contributed to Cosmopolitan's growth, profitability, and popularity: know your reader and always keep her in mind, prioritize good writing, and accommodate corporate and advertiser interests. In addition, it acknowledges Brown's role as a visionary editor and businesswoman, as well as Cosmopolitan's importance in magazine history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout her career, Jane Cunningham Croly (1829-1901), better known as "Jennie June," wrote extensively about women's rights in mainstream newspapers and magazines. This article revalues her work, considering the complexity of her journalistic stances on women's rights. Avoiding modern value statements that place cultural texts in hierarchal binaries of "liberal" or "conservative," it considers the motivation behind Croly's deployment of essentialist sex/gender logics. This study involved the historical analysis of more than sixty articles written by Croly about women's rights from 1855 until 1898, as well as additional primary sources that provided insight into her personal and professional lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing argument in communication scholarship is that quality journalism online can distinguish itself from rumor and unchecked information by being transparent, by revealing how information was obtained, so audiences can see through it to its origins and help correct errors. This study examined the extent to which female and male journalists differ in their use of Twitter and, specifically, their journalistic transparency on Twitter. Female journalists were found to differ little from male journalists in their Twitter presence, topics, opining or gatekeeping, but they were significantly more transparent. They revealed more about their jobs, personal lives and everyday activities, and they linked more to external websites, all indicators of greater transparency. While women working for national news media were less likely to offer opinion, retweet, link or tweet about themselves or their everyday lives than women working for less “elite” media—which would support a professional socialization perspective—none of these differences was statistically significant. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Gender inequalities persist in the journalism industry in Hong Kong, as female journalists are seriously under-represented in the upper echelons of news organizations. Not unlike other countries, a major reason contributing to the phenomenon is the family–work tensions experienced by many female journalists, which lead many to leave the field at different stages in their lives. This study examines this problematic through the lens of Bourdieu's field theory. Individual journalists are seen as positioned in several overlapping fields in differentiated manners. Using survey and in-depth interviews, this study not only highlights the presence of structural inequalities in journalism and the pervasiveness of family–work tensions for female journalists, but also interrogates the conditions which allow some female journalists to handle work and family simultaneously and relatively successfully. We also discuss the implications of our findings for ways to tackle the problem of gender inequalities in journalism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective. Childhood cancer survivors can develop physical, emotional and psychosocial adversities, a secondary malignancy (SM) being one of the most serious among them. The aim of our research was to study whether the development of SM was related to the psychosocial functioning of survivors, especially whether any psychic trauma from the first experience would be aggravated by SM. Patients and methods. Seventy - five childhood cancer survivors with SM were matched with 75 survivors who did not develop SM, by sex, age, living environment, diagnosis, year of diagnosis and treatment of the first malignancy. They were compared regarding education, employment, marital status and, in the 35 women, childbirth data. Seventeen childhood survivors with an SM had had psychological evaluations at diagnosis of both their first and secondary cancers; the results of the two were compared. Results. There were no differences in the schooling, education, social, marital status or birth specifics between survivors with SM and their controls, nor were there marked differences in measures of social or psychological status. Conclusions. The socioeconomic status of these 75 subjects was not found to be related to the development of SM. Psychological evaluations showed no marked differences between those conducted after the first and the secondary malignancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined content at ten small daily newspapers at two points in time-before and after a woman replaced a man as managing editor. The results were then compared with content changes at ten "matched" papers at which a man was managing editor for both points in time. The mix of topics that the newspapers covered changed little across time for both groups of publications. But the types of articles changed for the papers at which women became managing editors. The emphasis on feature approaches to the news increased, and standard hard news declined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on interviews with women journalists, the article analyzes the disadvantages faced by women in attaining management positions in communications in Argentina. It cites one interviewee as stating that the number of women in higher positions in the communications industry is below the 30 percent quota required by the government. It quotes another interviewee, who explains that most women do not have the previous management experience in the right organizations or departments to enter management in the communications industry. The article also refers to psychologist Mabel Burín, who finds that the frustration experienced by women unable to advance in their careers because of their gender is a factor in female depression.

For more than a decade now, it has been demonstrated that female news sources receive little attention in television news. Usually women account for no more than 20-25 percent of total time devoted to people speaking in the news. This article assesses when exactly female news sources are depicted in the news, using a dataset of 25,896 news items and 1600 hours of television, covering public broadcasting and commercial television in Belgium (Flanders) for the years 2003-5. The analysis shows that female news sources are strongly stereotyped and limited to traditional 'female' topics. The impact of the gender of the reporter was limited. Contrary to expectations, the broadcasting corporation with a long-standing gender diversity policy actually scored worse than its counterpart without such a policy. The article concludes with a discussion of the apparently difficult relation between traditional news standards and the depiction of gender diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the ways in which gender mainstreaming (GM) approaches have failed to become integrated in the EU media policy framework and seeks to analyse the reasons why. It argues that the degree of implementation of GM in the media policy area depends on the dynamics of structural power determinants, in particular the structure of opportunities of the DG in charge of the policy area and the institutional structures in general, as well as the influence of particular interests upon the policy process. The article focuses on two of the areas identified by the UN Platform for Action in 1995 supported by the EU: mis/representation of women in the media and women's participation in the decision-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the Penney-Missouri Awards competition, which was meant to raise the standards of women's pages by recognizing the sections that went beyond traditional content. Using interviews to look at the competition's history as well as framing analysis to examine the content of winning submissions, the study's findings over the period from 1960 to 1971 support a revision in the history of women 's pages. While traditional women's pages filled with society, home, and wedding news appeared in many newspapers, some sections were progressive in their content and their writing style. Recognizing the differences among women's page editors at various newspapers helps to strip away the invisibility of women in journalism history and stresses the important role played by them in pressing for change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article, through a series of interviews conducted with women war correspondents in Great Britain, cautions against undue optimism since sexism in the field, both within the military and among journalists, continues to prevail. The authors of the essay do not subscribe to a feminization of war news theory but instead suggest that a "journalism of attachment," which favors more human stories of civilian victims is creating a productive arena for women reporters. It is suggested that the presence of women in the frontline may also be indicative of a change in war storylines. A female perspective is allowing for greater engagement with the lives of the victims of war rather than its technical and strategic aspects.

The gender inequality in Nigerian society is reflected in men's representations of women in the news media. Research evidence continues to show that women as journalists are still largely 'invisible' in the Nigerian press because the overwhelming majority of people who report the news are men. Monitoring of the Nigerian press 1 shows that very few of the bylines in the news pages belong to women. Thus, the power to define the media agenda in Nigeria is still mainly a male privilege. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the use of pen names by a group of women who were just beginning to bravely venture into print in local newspapers during the early years of the twentieth century. It asks whether their use of noms de plume was purely to conceal their identities or their sex from their readership or whether such pen names were used for other purposes, for example, to construct a civic identity. Such an identity, it is argued, was then used to justify the writers' intrusion into the public sphere of newspaper correspondence and debate. It also considers how women's use of pen names changed over time, and the different factors that impacted on a woman's choice of nomenclature in her public correspondence to the newspapers. The study investigates the choice of pen names made by women letter-writers to two daily newspapers in Scotland between 1900 and 1918. While the use of pen names was frequent in the first part of the period, it died away almost completely during the early years of the First World War, only to recur after 1916. it is thus also suggested that a distinction can be made between reactive and proactive letters to the newspapers; the latter requiring the correspondent's identity to be made public while writers of letters reacting to other letters or editorial might feel more secure behind the cover of a nom de plume.

This essay examines the role of women DJs and their positioning within electronic/ dance music culture, which is overwhelmingly dominated by men. The Sisterdjs listserv is an educating and encouraging space for its participants with very few offline equivalents. Using Butler's theory of performativity, I argue that list discourse positively impacts the identity construction of women DJs by drawing attention to the ways that women are discursively positioned at the intersections of music, technology, and culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the relationship between the portrayal of women on screen and the presence of women executives with key behind-the-scene functions. Influence of market forces; Perceptions on power of individuals in the creative community on entertainment content.

Reports the impact of the presence of women in the mass media industries in the United States. Role of women managers in the broadcasting industry; Factors and barriers affecting career advancement of women; Comparison between men and women communication and management style; Prevalence of cultural norms in the industry.

Examines the role of women broadcasters during war times in Israel. Reasons for the male-dominated broadcasting industry in the country; Contradictory processes faced by Israeli women during war times; Factors that create restriction of women participating in public roles.

Focuses on media strategies and approaches adopted in Israel for reporting women on local politics. Tendency of media approaches to use exclusionary social frames in reporting women politicians; Strategies framing women in traditional gender roles; Analysis of press coverage of women political figures from 1950 to 1989.

Examines the impact of changes in the management and organization women in Great Britain's mass media industry. Efforts to address issues such as inequities in pay rates given to women employees in the industry; Disproportion of the terms and conditions for work affecting women; Constraints identified for women in the industry to achieve work equality.

Presents information on the democratization of access, and the empowerment of women on the global mass communications media. Process which should be utilized to create a New World Information and Communications Order for Women; View of United Nations concerning violation of human rights; Role of non-governmental organizations.