摘要
Globally, women now play a key role in economic, political, and social cultural affairs, and Malaysia is no exception. Equitable representation by women in the political arena is viewed as crucial in the improvement of women＇s participation in the decision-making process. Nevertheless, though women have made and make great contributions in both the private and public spheres, a review of media＇s coverage of women in the public realm shows a strong tendency to relegate women to mainly domestic affairs. This is consistent with findings from studies on women political candidates＇ image during campaign issues that showed that though women candidates attempted to present themselves in decisive and assertive ways, gender stereotyping was dominant in the media agenda and persistent biases typical of traditional gender representations in the media prevailed. There is very little research in Malaysia on how the media frames women candidates during campaign periods, or what issues are aligned with women candidates. The construction of images of women political candidates, in particular, is often omitted in most research on the General Election. This study analyses how women candidates were covered in selected Malaysian newspapers in the 2008 General Election. The types of issues women political candidates are identified with in the newspapers are also analysed.
