Abstract Book of the 7th Global Conference on Women’s Studies
Year: 2025
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Gendered Depictions & Migration: The Impact of Germany’s Mass Media on Migrant Women’s Perceived and Achieved Integration
Naluyima Hamidah
ABSTRACT:
As we turn on the TV, open Facebook, read the newspaper, or see images flashing across media screens, we are often confronted with grouped familiar images and rhetoric on the current refugee crisis: women and children, grouped together, presented as victims or as burdens falling upon European countries “to manage”. his is echoed within the UN human rights council as well, where resolution after resolution calls on the “protection of women and children” (UPR Database 2016). We may not think much of this coverage, but the images resonate and carry an intentional political message: we come to know women migrants are not the same as male migrants, but at the same time, the message is conveyed that not all female migrants are the same either. This analysis narrows in on this differential coverage of male and female migrants, and among female migrants, with reference to the case of Germany. Specifically, the analysis seeks to analyze the impact of German mass media’s gender differentiated depictions of female migrants on these migrants’ percieved and achieved ability to integrate within German society. Thus, the analysis seeks to answer one central question: to what extent does german mass me- dia’s depiction and coverage of female migrants, based on the interesection of their migration status with their sex, class, religion and ethnicity, impact their 2 Research Gap 2 percieved and achieved ability to integrate with German society? To narrow the research focus of this question, the assessment will specifically assess how muslim female migrants coming to Germany from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are differentially depicted by German mass media on the basis of their migration status with their sex, ethnicity, and religion.
Keywords: Women.Migrants.Germany.Mass Media