Coverage of expert women in the press: framing of female researchers in education in Chile

This study analyzes the presence of female academics and researchers in education and the framing of their figure in Chile. Using framing theory and quantitative content analysis of 295 news items published between 2018 and 2022, in the Education section of El Mercurio (a newspaper considered a reference for decision-makers), five frames were identified: expert, author of knowledge production, human interest, caregiver and commentator. The results indicate that there is not a significant difference in the frequency of appearances in the news of women experts in the field compared to men, although they are represented to a lesser extent as main sources. The predominant frames for women were those of caregiver and commentator, especially related to issues of schooling, early education and the pandemic. The frame in which women experts were least present was that of knowledge producer, defined as the one in which they report the results of their own studies.