The Representation of Immigration in the Spanish Press from a Gender Perspective (2008-2019)

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyse how the press portrays the phenomenon of immigration from a gender perspective. To achieve this, we selected four of Spain’s leading newspapers: El País, El Mundo, La Vanguardia, and ABC. We examined a corpus of 886 analysis units, compiled during the period 2008-2019, using the quantitative content analysis method. The results revealed four noteworthy aspects: the simplification of migration reality by disregarding the gender issue and, when addressed, under-representing immigrant women; the linking of women to more social and integrative perspectives, while men are more associated with conflict and delinquency; the quantitative over-dimensioning of immigrants of African origin compared to the real figures; and, finally, when the gender issue is taken into account, the main source of information is the migrants themselves, which presents the migration phenomenon through the experiences and feelings of the people involved in the process.