The representation of immigration in the Spanish press from a gender perspective (2008-2019)

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyse how the press portrays the phenomenon of immigration from a gender perspective. To do this, we have selected four of Spain's leading newspapers: El País, El Mundo, La Vanguardia and ABC. We worked on a corpus of 886 analysis units, compiled in the period 2008-2019 using the quantitative content analysis method. The results reveal four noteworthy aspects: the simplification of migration reality by obviating the gender issue and, when this is addressed, under-representing immigrant women; the linking of women to more social and integrative perspectives, while men are more associated with conflict and delinquency; the quantitative over-dimensioning of the immigrants' African origin with respect to the real figures; and, finally, when the gender issue is taken into account, the main source is the migrants themselves, so that the migration phenomenon is presented from the experiences and feelings of the people involved in the process.