REVIEW OF THE LEVEL OF SEXISM IN THE SERBIAN DAILY PRESS

Abstract

In order to determine the level of sexism in the Serbian daily press, a survey was conducted on a corpus of three editions of daily newspapers. Relevant national print media, which differ in their editorial policy, are included in the research: Politika as a serious daily informative-political newspaper, Večernje novosti as a semi-tabloid, and Kurir as a tabloid newspaper. These dailies were chosen because of the difference in the quality of the content they offer, the readability, and therefore the greatest impact on the readership. The research was done by the method of quantitative-qualitative content analysis. The research period was chosen at random, which includes editions published on January 28th 2020. The paper applies a methodology based on the numerical scale offered by Butler-Paisley in 1976, which indicates that representations of sexism are not black and white. This scale provides an explanation of the level of sexism in the media, dividing the media coverage of women into five categories, which can be categorized with each other. The woman in the first level is so limited and incompetent, that she is not a complete person; the woman in the second level is competent, but only within the defined sphere of activity; a third-level woman is allowed a wider sphere, but only if traditional activities remain primary. The fourth level allows more freedom, saying that a woman is and must be equal to a man, and level five confirms that each individual should be viewed non-stereotypically, and that women and men can sometimes surpass each other. Despite legal regulations and legal acts, which certainly represent a framework for the protection of women’s rights, the media still represent a woman under the burden of stereotypes, and do not give her enough space she deserves. The results of the research indicate certain shifts in the media representation of women, i.e. in most texts women are represented as equal to men, but there are still a large number of coded cases on the scale of “humiliate her” and “give her two places”, in which the media remind us of the two-dimensional portrayal of women and the primacy of private roles, a sphere that must not be jeopardized by a professional role