TY - JOUR
T1 - ‘Next time stay in your war room and pray for your boys’ or return to your kitchen
T2 - Sexist discourses in Ghana’s 2019 National Science and Math Quiz
AU - Agyepong, Dorothy Pokua
AU - Diabah, Grace
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.
PY - 2021/5
Y1 - 2021/5
N2 - This paper examines the representations of women in the discourses on the 2019 edition of Ghana’s National Science and Math Quiz. With data from online news articles and three social media outlets, the study examines stereotypical views about gender and Science/Math while exploring the relationship between language, gender, and culture. We focus on how the authors use memes, images and some linguistic strategies to instantiate certain (Ghanaian) gender norms and practices. Findings suggest that women who pursue (academic) excellence, especially in male-dominated fields like Science and Math, are usurpers who need to be kept where they ‘belong’. They are thus presented in particular stereotypical ways – homemakers, supporters, objects of sex and beauty, ‘unfit’ for science/math. Using Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis, which makes room for uncovering, contesting and reinterpreting the ‘hidden agendas’ of discourse, we also analyze nuances of the representations, some of which we (re)interpret as representations of women’s power.
AB - This paper examines the representations of women in the discourses on the 2019 edition of Ghana’s National Science and Math Quiz. With data from online news articles and three social media outlets, the study examines stereotypical views about gender and Science/Math while exploring the relationship between language, gender, and culture. We focus on how the authors use memes, images and some linguistic strategies to instantiate certain (Ghanaian) gender norms and practices. Findings suggest that women who pursue (academic) excellence, especially in male-dominated fields like Science and Math, are usurpers who need to be kept where they ‘belong’. They are thus presented in particular stereotypical ways – homemakers, supporters, objects of sex and beauty, ‘unfit’ for science/math. Using Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis, which makes room for uncovering, contesting and reinterpreting the ‘hidden agendas’ of discourse, we also analyze nuances of the representations, some of which we (re)interpret as representations of women’s power.
KW - Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis
KW - National Science and Math Quiz
KW - gender stereotypes
KW - hegemonic femininity
KW - hegemonic masculinity
KW - representation
KW - social media
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85097300940&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0957926520977220
DO - 10.1177/0957926520977220
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85097300940
SN - 0957-9265
VL - 32
SP - 267
EP - 291
JO - Discourse and Society
JF - Discourse and Society
IS - 3
ER -