This study was conducted to determine women's access to and use of information and information communication technology (ICT) in Karaba & gbreve;lar and K & imath;n & imath;k districts of Izmir province. Data were collected through face-to-face surveys with 400 women living in rural and urban areas and randomly selected from purposively selected districts. In the study, women's demographic information such as age and marital status, as well as their opinions on ICT use, factors affecting ICT use, and internet access usage status were examined. The findings, determined that the demographic information of women in rural and urban areas varied and that there were differences in ICT access and use. Also, it has been determined that women living in Karaba & gbreve;lar district generally have easier access to ICT than those residing in K & imath;n & imath;k district. It was also found that women's level of access to and use of these technologies is influenced by social, economic and cultural factors. In Karaba & gbreve;lar district, especially the urban structure and better educational opportunities facilitate access to and use of technology, while in K & imath;n & imath;k district, rural structure and lack of education limit women's opportunities in this area. In cooperation with civil society organizations and local governments, possible barriers to women's access to technology should be removed.
Women in Saudi Arabia have been the concern of many Western media for years. This paper explores the true image of the Saudi woman, contradicting the classical stereotypical depictions which associate them with oppression, deprivation, subordination and inferiority to men, and restrict them within certain limits or roles. It analyzes 12 videos that contributed to the celebration of the 91st Saudi National Day, 2021, by implementing a multimodal discourse analysis. The videos have been chosen randomly from the official channels of different Saudi institutions and companies on the online video sharing platform YouTube. Results show the expansion of the role of Saudi women in society, and their increased participation in various fields which have been previously dominated by or restricted to masculine workforce. Results emphasize the significant and legitimate position Saudi women occupy in society. This study reveals the new Saudi woman's image as that of a confident, independent and respected individual, worthy of admiration and appreciation.
This article examines the complex interplay of gendered power and agency within female-led noir from the Global South as an iconic mood in the field of cinema. Through detailed analyses of Miok (2017) and King of Boys (2018), this research argues that whilst these films contributed to diversifying the noir tradition, they remain deeply intertwined in patriarchal structures in which female authority is granted and subsequently withdrawn through maternal role and is subject to institutional discipline and punishment. Integrating feminist film theory with social norms analysis, this article examines how gendered expectations are constructed, enforced, and occasionally resisted, employing framework of norm targets, drivers, and beneficiaries. By repositioning Asian and African noir within a comparative framework, this research conceptualises noir as an adaptive transnational discourse that articulates universal patterns of gendered oppression and distinct local anxieties. Ultimately this paper reveals the complex boundaries and limited possibilities for female empowerment in contemporary non-Western noir cinema.
This study investigates gender representation in original Korean dramas produced by Netflix and Tving, two over-the-top (OTT) platforms that follow different industrial and cultural logics. Netflix, as a global platform, has promoted diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as part of its policies. Tving, by contrast, mirrors the conventions of Korea's domestic broadcasting culture, where there are assumably limited formal diversity strategies. The key question is how these different situations influence the gender representation in Korean original drama series. To answer this, the research examined original dramas released from 2018 to 2024. A systematic content analysis was conducted to see not only quantitative data analysis with age, occupation, and body type, but also qualitative side of gender representation by analyzing spatial location, emotional expression, and personality traits. The results show both similarities and differences. Netflix dramas, despite the presence of its DEI program, often return to traditional gender hierarchies. Women are shown as younger, good-looking, or in subordinate roles. Tving dramas sometimes depart from this pattern. Women are placed more often in public and work settings, and male characters are occasionally shown in moments of vulnerability. However, Tving repeated displays familiar stereotypes, such as putting women to subjugated positions. Taken together, the findings show that Netflix's inclusivity framework does not erase established stereotypes. Tving, although without formal diversity policies, reveals partial shifts that reflect audience expectations. By going beyond numerical counts and emphasizing qualitative dimensions, this study adds to debates on media diversity, platform strategies, and the cultural role of OTT drama in Korea and beyond.
This study examines how female public relations practitioners in South Korea define and practice feminine writing, and how such praxis shapes their narrative and occupational identities. Although public relations are quantitatively feminized, women's feminine subjectivities remain qualitatively constrained by organizational hierarchies and masculine-coded discursive norms. Drawing on Cixous's concept of & eacute;criture f & eacute;minine and feminist hermeneutic phenomenology, the study analyzes in-depth interviews with eight in-house practitioners using grounded theory. Findings reveal that feminization is often normalized through emotional feeling rules, masking persistent vertical gender gaps in leadership positions. In practice, feminine public relations writing emerges not as self-expressive authorship but as relational mediation between organizational goals and public aesthetics. Practitioners enact empathy, responsiveness, and multiplicity by attuning to publics' words, media logics, and internal organizational tone, often subordinating their personal voices to institutional discourse. While narrative identity is negotiated through caution, silence, and strategic self-effacement, occupational identity is more agentically constructed through authenticity, emotional intelligence, meticulousness, and strategic discernment. The study advances feminist public relations scholarship by distinguishing between quantitative feminization and qualitative discursive transformation of feminine subjectivity, situating feminine writing within institutional constraints, and foregrounding the culturally specific positionality of Korean women practitioners. It argues that feminine writing functions as an embedded yet muted epistemology that enriches organization-public relationships.
