Women, Science and the Media

Chambers, Amy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3801-3582 and Thompson, Shelley (2020) Women, Science and the Media. In: The International Encyclopedia of Gender, Media, and Communication. The Wiley Blackwell-ICA International Encyclopedias of Communication . Wiley. ISBN 1119429102 (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Women’s voices have been historically underrepresented in the practice, reporting, and representation of science. On screen and page they have often been secondary or almost entirely absent from the discourses of science in mainstream media (non-fiction and fiction). This entry will explore the intersection of science, media, and gender by analysing different creative and communicative platforms and how they can specifically capture women’s expertise in the sciences. We consider how representation provides agency and allows for an intersectional approach to the analysis of how science and scientific expertise is communicated to the public. The discourse of women in science needs to move more swiftly away from stories about exceptional individual woman scientists towards a normalisation of women scientists where they are framed within a community of professional, capable women.