Abstract

In 2012, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC began the eleventh formal peace talks. For the first time, there was an interest of the Colombian government to recognize gender as a crucial category for the improvement of gender equality and reduction of gender discrimination after the end of the armed conflict. In August 2016, Christian evangelical leaders and some right-wing politicians affirmed in the mass media that gender was a dangerous ideology. The gender ideology campaign began vilifying gender and sexuality to spread moral panic regarding the peace agreement. One month later, Colombians rejected the peace accord by a slim margin in the plebiscite. Therefore, this project investigates if and how the gender ideology campaign played a role in the failed peace plebiscite during the Colombian peace process in 2016. Additionally, what role did mass media play in the gender ideology campaign and did this affect people’s voting patterns in the peace plebiscite? This research combines the theoretical framework of V. Spike Peterson and Anne Runyan about the power of gender in world politics with the Agenda Setting and Framing of mass media proposed by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw. This research demonstrates how the influence of political and religious leaders and mass media were crucial in the framing of information about gender as an effective element to shape the national and political debate in the peace plebiscite. Hence, gender ideology as a pejorative term became a tool for rejecting gender equality policies, women, and LGBT rights.

Presenters

Angela Maria Bohorquez Oviedo
PhD in Political Science and International Relations, Political Science and International Relations, Independent Scholar, United States

Details

Presentation Type

Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

Theme

Civic and Political Studies

KEYWORDS

Gender, Peace, Media.

Digital Media

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