Feminist research in an Era of Globalization

Feminist communication scholars have moved both slowly and in fragmentary ways to developa political-economic analysis of women?s relationship to global media industries. Instead, feministresearch has remained focused mainly on gender representation in texts, with some (thoughless) attention paid to the economic and political structures within which media policies andprocedures are formed and texts are created. As a result, communication research today lacksa substantial body of empirical data or theory to help us understand where females fit into thescheme of capital, ownership, employment, or decision-making levels of media enterprises.Such a research agenda is the subject of this essay, which explores ways that feminist researchmight be directed at these aspects of the women-and-media relationship. Feminist researchagendas in an era of globalization must also be concerned with women?s efforts at changingthe media, analyzing how women have or might intervene in large systems at micro, meso, andmacro levels of media systems.