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Same Same but Different? Gender Politics and (Trans-)National Value Contestation in Europe on Twitter
[journal article]
Abstract The progress achieved in women's rights and gender equality has become the target of a backlash driven by "anti-gender" activists and right-wing populists across EU member states. To a large extent, this conflict takes place in the digital and social media spheres, illustrating the new mediatized lo... view more
The progress achieved in women's rights and gender equality has become the target of a backlash driven by "anti-gender" activists and right-wing populists across EU member states. To a large extent, this conflict takes place in the digital and social media spheres, illustrating the new mediatized logic of value contestation. Therefore, we ask to what extent are the debates about gender equality on Twitter similar in three European countries, and how do users engage in these debates? We examine these questions by collecting Twitter data around the 2021 International Women's Day in Germany, Italy, and Poland. First, we show that the debate remains nationally segmented and is predominantly supportive of gender equality. While citizens engage with the gender equality value online, they do so in a prevailingly acclamatory fashion. In contrast, political and societal actors show higher levels of engagement with the value and receive more interactions on Twitter. Our study highlights the relevance of national contexts to the analysis of (transnational) social media debates and the limited political engagement of citizens on Twitter across Europe. We also critically discuss the strengths and weaknesses of a cross-country social media comparison.... view less
Keywords
Federal Republic of Germany; Italy; Poland; affirmative action; gender policy; twitter; social media; discourse; conflict of values; opinion formation; mobilization; political participation
Classification
Women's Studies, Feminist Studies, Gender Studies
Interactive, electronic Media
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Free Keywords
gender equality; international women's day
Document language
English
Publication Year
2022
Page/Pages
p. 146-160
Journal
Politics and Governance, 10 (2022) 1
Issue topic
Analyzing Citizen Engagement with European Politics Through Social Media
ISSN
2183-2463
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed