Abstract
Studies on media representation of women candidates during elections reveal that they tend to be muted or made less visible; and if they are indeed present, they are depicted in an unsavoury fashion. This media slant can sway public opinion of women candidates and, ultimately, have an impact on election results. With this in mind, I examine how women candidates are portrayed in selected news reports during the election campaign of Malaysia’s 14th General Election in 2018. As well, I aim to find out whether the news reports have adhered to the recommendations of the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action with particular regard to the fair and balanced reporting of women candidates in news discourse. Data collected from selected online editions of newspapers and a news portal during the election campaign were analysed using tools drawn from Halliday’s systemic functional theory and van Leeuwen’s social actor network. Findings revealed that women candidates are denied agency or power as they are cast as Actors in a higher number of instrumental and non-transitive Material clauses. Their representation does not quite adhere to the recommendations of the Beijing Platform for Action as what is emphasised is their familial role as a “wife”, “mother” or “daughter”, and as appendages to their famous husbands or fathers. The focus is also on their compassion and empathy, which may make them appear less suitable for important leadership roles. These show that classic stereotypes of femininity are still being reinforced, which would delegitimise women political candidates and hinder their political career.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
FELDA (Federal Land Development Authority) is a government agency which was set up in 1956 to resettle the poor into new settlements and to help them to participate in a number of economic and business activities. It was embroiled in a controversy over land ownership and dubious transfers of land.
- 2.
Tabung Haji is a statutory body set up by the Malaysian government in 1963. It manages hajj services and facilitates savings for Malaysian Muslims to enable them to perform their pilgrimage to Mecca by investing in Syariah-compliant companies. It was accused of accounting irregularities that made it impossible for the body to pay higher dividends to depositors.
- 3.
National Feedlot Corporation which was set up by the government to help increase the supply of beef through cattle feedlot farming was accused of mismanagement and possible embezzlement of funds.
- 4.
The author owes her gratitude to the analytical procedure adopted by Sriwimon and Zilli on transitivity structures in their paper “The sister, the puppet and the first female PM: How gender stereotypes in Thai politics are generated in the press” published in SEARCH: The Journal of the Southeast Asia Research Centre for Communications and Humanities, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2017.
References
Abdul Manan, S. (2018). Point of view in Conrad’s Almayer’s Folly: A stylistic perspective. KEMANUSIAAN: The Asian Journal of Humanities, 25(Supp. 1), 167–190.
Benwell, B., & Stokoe, E. (2006). Discourse and identity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Bystrom, D. G., Banwart, M. C., Kaid, L. L., & Robertson, T. A. (2004). Gender and candidate communication: VideoStyle, webStyle, newsStyle. New York: Routledge.
Cameron, D. (1996). Style policy and style politics: A neglected aspect of the language of the news. Media, Culture and Society, 18, 315–333.
Dolan, K. (2004). Voting for women: How the public evaluates women candidates. Boulder, Colo: Westview Press.
Fleschenberg, A. (2008). Asia’s women politicians at the top: Roaring tigresses or tame kittens? In Iwanaga, K. (Ed.), Women’s political participation and representation in Asia: Obstacles and challenges (pp. 30–61). Copenhagen: NIAS Press.
Global Media Monitoring Project. (2015). Retrieved December 10, 2018, from http://www.5050foundation.edu.au/assets/reports/documents/gmmp-global-report-en.pdf.
Gomez, J., Anuar, M. K., & Lee, Y. B. (Eds.). (2018). Media elections: Democratic transitions in Malaysia. Petaling Jaya: Strategic Information and Research Development Centre.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1978). Language as social semiotic. London: Edward Arnold.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1985). An introduction to functional grammar. London: Edward Arnold.
Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen, C. M. I (2004). An introduction to functional grammar. London: Routledge.
Insenga, M. (2014). An analysis of the representation of female members of the United Kingdom Parliament in the British Press. European Scientific Journal, September 2014, Special Edition 2, 182–191 (2014). Retrieved December 20, 2018, from https://eujournal.org/index.php/esj/article/viewFile/4143/4079.
Iwanaga, K. (Ed). (2008). Women's political participation and representation in Asia: obstacles and challenges. Copenhagen: NIAS Press.
Joshin, D. K. & Kingma, K. (2013). The uneven representation of women in Asian Parliaments: Explaining variations across the regions. African and Asian Studies, 12, 352–372.
Kahn, K. F. (1996). The political consequences of being a woman: How stereotypes influence the conduct and consequences of political campaigns. New York: Columbia University Press.
Khoo, B. T. (Ed.) (2018). Special Issue. Dissent: Malaysian politics 60 years after merdeka. In Southeast studies (Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 415–447).
Lee, Y. B., & Wang, L. K. (2018). Print media and gender stereotyping: Portrayal of women candidates during the 13th Malaysian General Election. In J. Gomez, M. K. Anuar, & Y. B. Lee (Eds.), Media elections and democracy transitions in Malaysia (pp. 145–178). Petaling Jaya: Strategic Information and Research Development Centre.
Lim, L. (2013). Gender think piece: Malaysian women’s entry into politics. Retrieved April 3, 2018, from http://cpps.org.my/publications/gender-think-piece-malaysian-womens-entry-into-politics/.
Loh, F., & Netto, A (Eds.). Regime change in Malaysia: GE14 and the end of UMNO's 60 year rule. Petaling Jaya: Strategic Information and Research Development Centre.
Markstedt, H. (2007). Political handbags: The representation of women politicians: A case study of the websites and newspaper coverage of the women candidates in the Labour Party Deputy Leadership Election. MEDIA@LSE Electronic MSc Dissertation Series Compiled by Professor Robin Mansell and Dr. Bart Cammaerts. Retrieved January 10, 2019, from http://www.lse.ac.uk/media-and-communications/assets/documents/research/msc-dissertations/2007/Markstedt-final.pdf.
Mohamad, M. (2018). Getting more women into politics under one-party dominance: Collaboration, clientism, and coalition building in the determination of women’s representation in Malaysia. In B. T. Khoo (Ed.), Special Issue. Dissent: Malaysian politics 60 years after merdeka. Southeast studies (Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 415–447).
MSI-MED. (2016). Study of media coverage of elections with a specific focus on gender equality. Committee of experts on media pluralism and transparency of media ownership. Council of Europe.
Murray, R. (2010) Cracking the highest glass ceiling: A global comparison of women’s campaigns for executive office. Praeger.
Nain, Z. (2002). The media and Malaysia’s reformasi movement. In H. K. H. Russell (Ed.), Media fortunes changing times: ASEAN states in transition. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Rajaratnam, U. D. (2010, October 10). Representation of Malaysian women in politics. Language in India. Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow (Vol. 10). Retrieved January 24, 2019, from http://www.languageinindia.com/oct2010/ushamalaysiaelections.pdf.
Russell, H. K. H. (Ed). (2002). Media fortunes changing times: ASEAN states in transition. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Sanbonmatsu, K. (2018). Political parity: Media coverage of women candidates. Retrieved April 3, 2018 from https://www.politicalparity.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Parity-Research-Women-Media.pdf.
Simpson, P. & Mayr, A. (2010). Language and power. A resource book for students. London: Routledge.
Simpson, P. & Montgomery, M. (1995). Language, literature and film: The stylistics of Bernard Maclavety’s Cal. In P. Verdonk & J. J. Weber, (Eds.), Twentieth-century fiction: From text to context (pp. 138–165). London: Routledge.
Simpson, P. (1993). Language, ideology and point of view. London: Routledge.
Sreberny, A., & van Zoonen, L. (2000). Gender, politics and communication. New Jersey: Hampton press INC.
Sriwimon, L. & Zilli, P. J. (2017). The sister, the puppet and the first female PM: How gender stereotypes in Thai politics are generated in the press. SEARCH: The Journal of the Southeast Asia Research Centre for Communications and Humanities, 9(1), 1–24.
Steele, J. (2009). Professionalism online: How Malaysiakini challenges authoritarianism. International Journal of Press/Politics, 14(1), 91–111.
Tan, B. H., Mohamad, M., & Ng, C. (2018). Still a long way to go: GE14, women and political representation In. F. Loh & A. Netto (Eds.), Regime change in Malaysia: GE14 and the end of UMNO’s 60 year rule (pp. 282–293). Petaling Jaya: Strategic Information and Research Development Centre.
Trimble, L. (2018). How the media undermine women political leaders. Retrieved February 25, 2019, from http://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/september-2018/media-undermine-women-political-leaders/.
UN Women. (1995). Retrieved October 20, 2018, from http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/media.htm.
Van Leeuwen, T. (2008). Discourse and practice. New tools for critical discourse practice. New York: Oxford University Press.
Verdonk, P., & Weber, J. J. (Eds.). (1995). Twentieth-century fiction: From text to context. London: Routledge.
Who makes the news. (2019). Global Media Monitoring Project. Retrieved January 7, 2019, from http://whomakesthenews.org/about-us.
Yeong, P. J. (2018). How women matter: Gender representation in Malaysia’s 14th General Election, The Round Table. The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, 107(6), 771–786.
Lee, Y. B. & Wang, L. K. (2018). Print media and gender stereotyping: Portrayal of women candidates during the Malaysian 13th General Election. In J. Gomez, M. K. Anuar & Y. Beng Lee (Eds.), Media elections: Democratic transitions in Malaysia. (pp. 145–178). Petaling Jaya: Strategic Information and Research Development Centre.
Online Editions (9 April—8 May 2018)
The Star.
New Straits Times.
Berita Harian.
Utusan Malaysia.
Malaysiakini.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Abdul Manan, S. (2019). Covering Women Candidates in News Reports on Malaysia’s 14th General Elections. In: Rajandran, K., Abdul Manan, S. (eds) Discourses of Southeast Asia. The M.A.K. Halliday Library Functional Linguistics Series. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9883-4_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9883-4_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-9882-7
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-9883-4
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)