Mediated Femininity and Female Citizenship in Moroccan Electronic News Sites – Hespress.com as a Case Study

Abstract

If the practice of citizenship could be summarized in the inclusive constitutional right to “participate in political, economic, cultural and social life” (The Moroccan Constitution, 2011) and citizens’ right to “the promotion of their participation in national life and the management of public affairs” (Ibid.); and if Moroccan women are full citizens in principle, are their thorough participation and engagement accepted without discrimination or reticence? If this is not the case, then what are the symbolic barriers to their effective participation? In an attempt to answer this question, we have chosen to spot the light on one system of representation, namely the electronic press, characterized by a relatively wider freedom of expression and a growing credibility. We will look closely at the Moroccan electronic news website Hespress.com, which is an interesting case for its popularity on the national level. We will analyze the representation of femininity in a sample of articles in relation to citizenship. This is a quantitative and qualitative analysis that seeks to measure feminine collaboration in editorial choices and publication, and the recurrence of representations that symbolically delimit the framework and the type of participation allowed or aspired to for a woman (Siebel Newsom, 2011). To reach this goal, we will start by defining the concepts of citizenship, femininity and representation in relation to the thesis that concerns us.