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The chapter "Media gender-equality regimes: Exploring media organizations’ policy adoption across nations", by Claudia Padovani and Rossella Bozzon, explores possible correlations between the socio-economic and cultural environments within which the media operate across the world, and the policies that have been adopted by media organisations to promote gender equality, in the attempt to explain the wide variation in the (limited) adoption of such policies in different countries and regions. The chapter investigates if, within such variation, it is possible to identify patterns of policy adoption that may indicate the existence of different media gender equality regimes in the media sector worldwide. The authors suggest that, on the basis of available data, countries can be grouped in five clusters showing similar pattern in policy adoption, from gender-blind to gender-transformative. The project Comparing Gender and Media Equality across the Globe has been fundedby the Swedish Research Council (2016–2020) and is based at the Department of Journalism, Media and Communication (JMG) at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.The GEM dataset and its codebook are free to use and can be downloaded in variousformats. For access, contact JMG. Please ensure that proper attribution is given when citing the dataset.

Gender inequalities have been at the core of debates and studies about media and communication for a long time. The media – as meaning-making institutions, and as an important economic sector – have been recognized as both a hindrance to advancements in gender equality across societies, and a possible solution to persisting stereotypes and discrimination. In this chapter we build on a consolidated body of knowledge and map out current international initiatives aimed at mainstreaming gender in and through the media; but we also argue that new lenses and approaches are needed to understand current transformations, mostly due to digital developments and globalization processes. We do so by addressing questions concerning the impact and implications of digital technologies in relation to working conditions in the news media, and by discussing the potential for change that may derive from gender-aware media policies and regulatory mechanisms in a multi-actor and multi-level environment. Go to the full book to find a version of this chapter tagged for accessibility.

This article presents an overview of Italian social mobilizations focusing on issues that pertain to information, communication and knowledge: an emerging and yet under-researched area of social actors’ engagement that relates to developments in the trans-national context, while showing peculiar characteristics. The authors propose a comprehensive reading of such reality, focusing on the nexus between the content of mobilizations (“communication rights” broadly understood) and the processes through which they express and organize themselves, including their use of communication technologies and their presence in the Web sphere. In particular a network approach is adopted, combining the analysis of social networks among activists and organizations, and issue networks that those organizations contribute to structure on the Web. Issues pertaining to identify formation, informal networking and conflictual/cooperative orientation are addressed in order to outline relevant features and possible trends.