Abstract
This study offers a critical analysis of ways women were represented during the peak of protests associated with the Tunisian civil resistance campaign in North Africa from late 2010 through early 2011 among newspapers, wire services, and blogs—launch of the Arab Spring (or Arab Awakening). Theoretical underpinning includes norm theory (Kahneman & Tversky, 1982) and gender role congruity theory (Eagly & Karau, 2002), as well as Gans's (1979) concept of social order as an enduring news value. Enjoined, these frameworks facilitate interrogation of print and visual texts to reveal characterizations of women and how the outcomes may have shaped public opinion on the global stage. Seven themes describe media representations of women among written and photographic reportage: Female Victims, Comparatively Lucky Women, Frivolous Girls, Female Culprits, Invisible Women, Women as Agentic Leaders, and Female Patriotic Citizens. Results underscore how print and wire media consistently clung to traditional female gender stereotypes, representing women as emotional, communal, and nurturing mothers and wives, whereas blog content represented women as fully engaged agentic leaders and citizens.
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