IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v10y2023i1d10.1057_s41599-023-01749-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Framing of female medical personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic: a case study of the Chinese official media

Author

Listed:
  • Cunling Gao

    (Qingdao University)

  • Hongfa Yi

    (Shanghai University)

  • Jinfu Wang

    (Qingdao University)

  • Shanshan Han

    (Hebei University)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the media frames adopted by the official WeChat and Sina Weibo accounts of the People’s Daily between January 1 and December 31, 2020, for reports about female medical personnel involved in pandemic prevention and control. Although the number of female medical personnel involved in pandemic prevention and control far exceeded that of their male counterparts, the extent of media reports on the former was far less than that of the latter. The human interest frame about female medical personnel was mainly applied, while the use of the action frame was less frequent, which highlighted the gender identity and family role of these women but weakened their professional identity. This was not conducive to praising the contributions of female medical personnel in fighting the pandemic. The media frames of reporting medical personnel in WeChat and Sina Weibo accounts of the People’s Daily are not always the same. After Wuhan’s lockdown ended on April 8, the proportion of the human interest frame of the report text of female medical personnel decreased, and the proportion of the action frame increased, while the proportion of the human interest frame of the report text of male medical personnel increased and the proportion of the action frame decreased. Previous studies mainly analyzed the use of the media frames of female news personalities, but few studies focused on whether women had the possibility of breaking away from the gender media frames. This study shows that some female medical personnel with exceptional professional competence are likely to transcend the gender media frames and receive similar coverage to that of male medical professionals, like Li Lanjuan and Chen Wei.

Suggested Citation

  • Cunling Gao & Hongfa Yi & Jinfu Wang & Shanshan Han, 2023. "Framing of female medical personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic: a case study of the Chinese official media," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:10:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-023-01749-0
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-023-01749-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-023-01749-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-023-01749-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhang, Jian & Jin, Songqing & Li, Tao & Wang, Haigang, 2021. "Gender discrimination in China: Experimental evidence from the job market for college graduates," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 819-835.
    2. Chi, Wei & Li, Bo, 2014. "Trends in China’s gender employment and pay gap: Estimating gender pay gaps with employment selection," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 708-725.
    3. Sylvie DÉMURGER & Martin FOURNIER & Yi CHEN, 2007. "The Evolution Of Gender Earnings Gaps And Discrimination In Urban China, 1988–95," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 45(1), pages 97-121, March.
    4. Constanze Rossmann & Lisa Meyer & Peter J. Schulz, 2018. "The Mediated Amplification of a Crisis: Communicating the A/H1N1 Pandemic in Press Releases and Press Coverage in Europe," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(2), pages 357-375, February.
    5. Guo, Hao & Hu, Chenxu & Ding, Xiaozhou, 2022. "Son preference, intrahousehold discrimination, and the gender gap in education in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 324-339.
    6. Xu Tian & Xiaohua Yu & Stephan Klasen, 2018. "Gender discrimination in China revisited: a perspective from family welfare," Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(1), pages 95-115, January.
    7. Fan Yang & Jessica Wendorf Muhamad & Qinghua Yang, 2019. "Exploring Environmental Health on Weibo: A Textual Analysis of Framing Haze-Related Stories on Chinese Social Media," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-9, July.
    8. Quanbao Jiang & Shuzhuo Li & Marcus Feldman, 2011. "Demographic Consequences of Gender Discrimination in China: Simulation Analysis of Policy Options," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 30(4), pages 619-638, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Norehan Jinah & Kun Yun Lee & Nor Haniza Zakaria & Nursyahda Zakaria & Munirah Ismail, 2024. "Media framing on news of the Hartal Doktor Kontrak (HDK) movement in Malaysia: a quantitative content analysis of two Malaysian newspapers," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dasgupta, Sukti. & Matsumoto, Makiko. & Xia, Cuntao., 2015. "Women in the labour market in China," ILO Working Papers 994879663402676, International Labour Organization.
    2. repec:ilo:ilowps:487966 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Zhang, Jian & Jin, Songqing & Li, Tao & Wang, Haigang, 2021. "Gender discrimination in China: Experimental evidence from the job market for college graduates," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 819-835.
    4. Gao, Kaijuan & Wang, Manya & Liu, Jin, 2024. "Board chair gender, glass ceiling, and IPO underpricing: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 1152-1171.
    5. Sun, Xiaoyan & Ding, Waverly & Xie, Xuanli, 2024. "The Internet and the gender gap in entrepreneurship: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 39(5).
    6. Deng, Yue & Zhou, Yuqian & Hu, Dezhuang, 2023. "Grandparental childcare and female labor market behaviors: Evidence from China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    7. Zhipeng Gao & Zhenyu Wang & Mi Zhou, 2023. "Is China’s Urbanization Inclusive?—Comparative Research Based on Machine Learning Algorithms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-16, February.
    8. Livini Donath & Oliver Morrissey & Trudy Owens, 2021. "Pay period and the distributional effect of education on earnings: Evidence from recentered influence function," Discussion Papers 2021-02, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    9. Liu, Xueyue & Zuo, Sharon Xuejing, 2023. "From equality to polarization: Changes in urban China’s gender earnings gap from 1988 to 2016," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 303-337.
    10. Huang, Yana & Wang, Tianyu, 2022. "MULAN in the name: Causes and consequences of gendered Chinese names," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    11. Bjorn Gustafsson & Sai Ding, 2011. "Unemployment and the Rising Number of Non-Workers in Urban China: Causes and Distributional Consequences," University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP) Working Papers 201117, University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP).
    12. Hare, Denise, 2016. "What accounts for the decline in labor force participation among married women in urban China, 1991–2011?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 251-266.
    13. Rickne, Johanna, 2010. "Gender, Wages, and Social Security in China’s Industrial Sector," Working Paper Series 827, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    14. Na Ta & Zhilin Liu & Yanwei Chai, 2019. "Help whom and help what? Intergenerational co-residence and the gender differences in time use among dual-earner households in Beijing, China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(10), pages 2058-2074, August.
    15. Asadullah, Niaz & Wahhaj, Zaki, 2016. "Missing from the Market: Purdah Norm and Women's Paid Work Participation in Bangladesh," IZA Discussion Papers 10463, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Xiqian Cai & Yi Lu & Jessica Pan & Songfa Zhong, 2019. "Gender Gap under Pressure: Evidence from China's National College Entrance Examination," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(2), pages 249-263, May.
    17. Ebo Botchway & Kofi Fred Asiedu, 2020. "Ownership type and earnings gap decomposition: Evidence from the Ghanaian labor market," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 32(4), pages 619-631, December.
    18. Wei Zhang & Zhun Xu, 2022. "Gender Norms and Household Labor: Time Use in the Context of Social Class Differentiation in Transitional China," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 54(1), pages 106-121, March.
    19. Hazarika, Bhabesh, 2017. "Decomposition of Gender Income Gap in Rural Informal Micro-enterprises: An Unconditional Quantile Approach in the Handloom Industry," Working Papers 17/216, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    20. Quanbao Jiang & Marcus Feldman & Shuzhuo Li, 2014. "Marriage Squeeze, Never-Married Proportion, and Mean Age at First Marriage in China," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 33(2), pages 189-204, April.
    21. Ying Li & Quanbao Jiang, 2017. "The Intergenerational Effect and Second Childbirth: Survey Findings from the Shaanxi Province of China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 133(2), pages 669-691, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:10:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-023-01749-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.