The Problem of Gender Balance in the Ukrainian Media in a Full-Scale War

Abstract

According to the results of The Global Media Monitoring Project, gender balance is an urgent problem for the absolute majority of the world's media. This problem is particularly acute for Ukrainian mass media that continue to operate in wartime conditions. The purpose of the article is to analyze the peculiarities of women's representation in the content of Ukrainian national and hyperlocal media in the conditions of a full-scale war. The method to achieve a research aim is a comparative analysis of all-Ukrainian monitoring of national and hyperlocal media data for the second quarter of 2022. The data analysis showed that the monitoring results differ in quantitative and qualitative indicators. Thus, the opinions of female experts were cited in 16% of all cases in national media, 35% – in hyperlocal; heroines were mentioned in national media in 22% of cases, in hyperlocal – 34%. Despite certain differences in the data caused by different research approaches and methods, the results of both monitorings indicate a gender imbalance in domestic media in favor of men. This is partly a consequence of the decades-long situation in the Ukrainian media sphere characterized by a lack of women representation in content, especially in news, and partly due to the full-scale war. At the same time, domestic and foreign researchers note positive changes regarding the destruction of gender stereotypes, the transformation of gender roles, and the formation of new narratives in the coverage of the war in the Ukrainian media. This requires study of the problem and is a promising area for further research.