Gender Inequality in Chinese News Discourse: A Critical Discourse Perspective

Abstract

This article explores, from the perspective of critical discourse analysis, how the news coverage of male and female Chinese Olympians of the 30th London Summer Olympics in Chinese newspapers consistently perpetuates an ideology of gender inequality in the language through which achievement is recognized. The analysis reveals that while male athletes are described in terms which identify athletic achievement with masculinity, descriptions of female Olympians equate their achievements with submission to traditional female domestic roles. Due to the practice of the traditional kinship systems that define gender relations, newspapers in modern China constantly depict women as less competent than men, which has hindered the achievement of gender equality in Chinese society.