Gendered power relations in the digital age: an analysis of Japanese women’s media choice and use within a global context

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the persistence of gendered choice and use of media, particularly in Japanese domestic settings. It shows how women’s significant presence in the digital media environment does not necessarily translate into substantial changes in gendered power dynamics in choosing and using particular media for certain purposes at home. This project’s authors, researchers from Argentina, Finland, Israel, Japan, and the US, analyzed interview data from Japan by drawing on the Foucauldian concept of micro-level power, which is categorized into three main types: personal authority, media affordances, and space-time constellations. Through this process, we interviewed 77 individuals, revealing that persistent gendered media choices and use exist in Japan. The project team also looked for similar cases in other countries for further theoretical implications. As a result of this investigation, we argue that the patriarchy continues to influence women’s choice and use of media at home even in this media-saturated digital age. Our interview data show that “old media” such as radio, television, newspaper, and magazines not only mediate information and entertainment contents at home, but also structure people’s quotidian use of media, both old and new, and sustains existing gendered assumptions and values.

KEYWORDS:

• Media choice
• media use
• domestic settings
• micro-level power
• cross-national research

Acknowledgments

We are grateful for the insightful suggestions and constructive comments provided by Yujin Yaguchi and the reviewers throughout the editorial process. We also thank the research assistance of Aysha Agbarya, Tali Aharoni, Victoria Andelsman, Adi Aricha, Tomás Bombau, Sofía Carcavallo, Silvina Chmiel, Rodrigo Gil Buetto, Rosario Giqueaux, Camila Giuliano, Hadas Gur-Zeev, Anni Juusola, Kateryna Kasianenko, Hiroki Kato, Zhang Lei, Silvana Leiva, Mora Matassi, Chie Matsumoto, Pilar Passon, Jeanette Rodriguez, Amy Ross Arguedas, Salla Salminen, Hadassah Schwarz, Asako Shimizu, Akira Tanaka, Orly Tokov, Celeste Wagner, and Maaya Yui.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. For the status and critiques of the recent global resurgence of feminism, see Rosalind Gill (2016) or Catherine Rottenberg (2014).

2. https://www.j-cast.com/tv/2017/07/21303820.html?p=all. Retrieved May 1 2021.

3. According to the UNESCO (2017) Global Report, only 3% of female students in higher education choose information and communication technologies (ICT) studies (UNESCO 2017).

4. “Kosher phones” are phones that have been restricted in some way to ensure that they cannot provide access to various apps and sites that are considered problematic (see Frieda Vizel 2018).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences (JSPS) under the category KAKENHI(B), Grant Number 17H01833, the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation, and Global Partnership Fund of the Buffett Institute for Global Studies at Northwestern University.

Notes on contributors

Kaori Hayashi

Kaori Hayashi is Professor of Media and Journalism Studies at the University of Tokyo, and the Director of the B’AI Global Forum, which was set up within the Institute for AI and Beyond at the University of Tokyo. For her publication list and recent activities, see: http://www.hayashik.iii.u-tokyo.ac.jp. E-mail: [email protected]

Pablo J. Boczkowski

Pablo J. Boczkowski (he/him/his) is a Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Northwestern University. His research program examines the dynamics of digital culture from a comparative perspective.

Neta Kligler-Vilenchik

Neta Kligler-Vilenchik is an Associate Professor of Communication and Journalism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her work focuses on civic and political participation and expression in the context of the changing media environment, particularly among young people.

Eugenia Mitchelstein

Eugenia Mitchelstein is associate professor in the Social Sciences department at the Universidad de San Andrés, and co-director of the Center for the Study of Media and Society in Argentina.

Keren Tenenboim-Weinblatt

Keren Tenenboim-Weinblatt is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research interests include journalism, political communication, and media temporalities. She is currently Principal Investigator of the ERC-funded project “Mediating the Future: The Social Dynamics of Public Projections” (PROFECI) and associate editor of the Journal of Communication. Her recent work on gender differences in conflict coverage was published in Communication Research (2021).

Mikko Villi

Mikko Villi, PhD, is Professor of Journalism in the Department of Language and Communication Studies at the University of Jyväskyl00E4, Finland. An emphasis in his work is on the contemporary context for journalism and media work. Among his research interests are media management, media consumption, media platforms, news media business models, and the digital transition in the media.