Examining representations of women's leadership in the media and Australian universities

Examines how diverse academic women educational leaders experienced and negotiated media representations of leadership in their work. The thesis argues that feminist leadership analyses assume a commonality of women's interests, ignoring the diversity, which exists between different groups of women and the material impact of diversity upon female leaders' work.

Entrepreneurship and mass media : audiences' perceptions of entrepreneurship stories in mass media

Using a set ofvariables measured in the Danish population survey related to the international Global Entrepreneurship Monitor project (GEM), this study explored what influences how people perceive stories about entrepreneurship in mass media. It was found that demographics influence how people perceived entrepreneurship stores, whereas social stratifications had no influence. Further on, the findings revealed a reinforcing effect from entrepreneurship stories in mass media. People already engaged in entrepreneurship perceived media stories differently from people not engaged, and people’s existing values were also reinforced. Together, these findings provide some crucial implications for policy initiatives trying to promote entrepreneurship. First, such initiatives need to consider who the actual targets are as different people decode and perceive the same messages differently. Second, such initiatives have to be longitudinal and long termed in order to function through more influential agencies like family, peer group, school, occupational group and so forth, and not only through the mass media as secondary socialisation.

Raunch culture goes to school? : young women, normative femininities and elite education

Public concern about popular culture’s sexualisation of women and girls is regularly voiced in the Australian media. Young women grow up against a backdrop of ‘raunch culture’ (Levy, 2005), which for some scholars represents a ‘new’ femininity (Gill, 2007), in which ‘hyper-sexual’ forms of (hetero)sexual expression are now expected of young women and girls, despite ostensibly being about choice and personal empowerment. In this article, I explore the constructions of girlhood and femininity amongst young women attending an elite, single-sex, private school in Melbourne, Australia. Elite schooling for girls is often associated with highly classed notions of (hetero)sexual modesty and propriety, epitomised in the reality television program Ladette to Lady. Here I consider how hyper-sexualities are configured within students’ constructions of themselves and others, and I explore their relationship to classed expectations of identity for privileged girls. I examine the role that classed norms of identity play in mediating these girls’ negotiations of hyper-sexualities.

Congènere Congrés Internacional : La representació de gènere a la publicitat del segle XXI

Conjunt de ponències i comunicacions del Congrés Congènere, celebrat a Girona el 25 i 26 de maig de 2009, entorn de la temàtica de gènere i publicitat al segle XXI

What's 'childless' got to do with it?

Childlessness is increasing in Australia and has resulted in an upsurge of media commentary on the lives of childless women, This paper investigates the use of the label 'childless' in the Australian print media by drawing meaning and understanding from these representations within the context of pronatalist ideologies. Our analysis suggests that childless(ness) is used as an irrelevant descriptor and as a discreditable attribute, which fudher serves to perpetuate negative othering stereotypes of childless women. This is particularly exemplified through the representation of Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard by the print media. This analysis highlights the continued positioning of women in regards to their reproductive status.