Map of women as a subject and an object of communication research in Spain

Abstract

The working hypothesis of this paper is that communication research has distinctive characteristics when the researcher is a woman and when we analyze the presence of women as an object of communication research. To this end, we analyze and compare the scientific production of female communication researchers with that of female researchers in other fields. On the basis of research projects and doctoral theses, we have produced a communication research map from a gender perspective. Data extracted from our national research project “The System of Research in Spain on Social Practices in Communication. Map of Projects and of Groups, Lines and Objects of Study and Methods” (Code CSO2013-47933-C4-1P). Confirmation is made of the hypothesis of unequal gender representation and of the differences in the production of female communication researchers as a result of the geographical variable of the autonomous regions, among other factors.

KEYWORDS: gender studies, communication research, university, doctoral theses, research and innovation projects, research methods.