Media narratives about women in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

Media content is directly related to the construction and reproduction of different cultural identities. The text analyses how and to what extent women are represented in media content in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Based on a selected sample of media formats, qualitative content analysis and quantitative data, the research aims to show whether the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina establish and strengthen existing social constructs of gender differences and accentuate stereotypical representations of women through different media formats, policies and narratives. Analysing the media, thematic content dedicated to women clearly shows media-created representations of women and the dominant policy of media representation and production of meaning in the social community. The point of turning away from this kind of media narratives is represented by the postmodern deconstruction of existing understandings of gender diversity, which, regardless of contemporary post-feminist analyses of other gender issues, are still present in many social and media environments.