How exposure to different media framing influences support for gender equality: The case of the gender gap and employment during the Covid-19 pandemic in South Korea

초록

The existing gender gap has been exacerbated and challenged by the Covid pandemic. Formal sources of information play a role in improving awareness of this by making public existing issues. This study assesses whether exposure to the growing gender employment gap through newspaper articles influences support for various types of COVID-19 relief policies that address gender inequality by examining the case of South Korea. Using an original survey experiment, this study finds that exposure to the gender employment gap during the pandemic through newspaper articles does little to increase support for policies that significantly help female employees. However, exposure to newspaper articles that discuss declining employment opportunities during the pandemic for the general public increase support for gender equal policies. This suggests that newspaper articles related to gender differences in unemployment may not be significantly effective in increasing support while articles that focus on society holistically may enhance support for gender equal policies, suggesting that more needs to be done on framing issues related to gender equality to reduce the gender gap in the future.

키워드