TY - JOUR
T1 - Framing safety of women in public transport
T2 - A media discourse analysis of sexual harassment cases in Bangladesh
AU - Mowri, Seama
AU - Bailey, Ajay
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and Utrecht University, The Netherlands as part of the research project EQUIMOB – Inclusive Cities through Equitable access to Urban Mobility Infrastructures for India and Bangladesh under the research program Joint Sustainable Development Goal research initiative with grant number: W 07.30318.003.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022.
PY - 2023/3
Y1 - 2023/3
N2 - This paper analyzes the role of print media in framing incidences of sexual harassment in public transport; particularly in the context of Bangladesh, where gender-based violence is highly prevalent in the public sphere. This article uses Douglas’ cultural theory to reflect on media practices and its institutional power to reframe the social problem through risk and blame attribution. We conducted a discourse analysis of 71 news articles extracted from four of the widely circulated and influential newspapers of Bangladesh. Our findings reveal that the hegemonic discourse of gender-based violence in public transport is systemic and/or primarily reliant on legal recourse. By contrast, discourses presenting sexual harassment as symptomatic of broader gender inequality is less frequent. Moreover, these media platforms belong to an assemblage of patriarchal social-power holders that collaborate with established law and order to facilitate a blame game, thereby relieving the same stakeholders of ownership and accountability. Given the power of news media in constructing meta-narratives of safety (and nudging policymakers), journalists must tread responsibly on issues of blame, women’s safety, and their rights to the city.
AB - This paper analyzes the role of print media in framing incidences of sexual harassment in public transport; particularly in the context of Bangladesh, where gender-based violence is highly prevalent in the public sphere. This article uses Douglas’ cultural theory to reflect on media practices and its institutional power to reframe the social problem through risk and blame attribution. We conducted a discourse analysis of 71 news articles extracted from four of the widely circulated and influential newspapers of Bangladesh. Our findings reveal that the hegemonic discourse of gender-based violence in public transport is systemic and/or primarily reliant on legal recourse. By contrast, discourses presenting sexual harassment as symptomatic of broader gender inequality is less frequent. Moreover, these media platforms belong to an assemblage of patriarchal social-power holders that collaborate with established law and order to facilitate a blame game, thereby relieving the same stakeholders of ownership and accountability. Given the power of news media in constructing meta-narratives of safety (and nudging policymakers), journalists must tread responsibly on issues of blame, women’s safety, and their rights to the city.
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U2 - 10.1177/01634437221111913
DO - 10.1177/01634437221111913
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85135140929
SN - 0163-4437
VL - 45
SP - 266
EP - 284
JO - Media, Culture and Society
JF - Media, Culture and Society
IS - 2
ER -
