A Comparative Analysis of Social Media Discourses of CSOs on Gender Empowerment across Different Countries

This chapter explores how Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) engage in social media discussions on critical issues related to gender empowerment and inclusion in Belgium, Austria, Poland, Italy, and Spain. Over the last decades, the social media landscape has evolved in such ways, that each platform has a specific participant group, in terms of gender, educational background and age group. Furthermore, all these channels have distinct ways of expressing and communicating, creating their own subgroups, and in some cases interacting with traditional media. CSOs have to carefully select the type of social media channels and topics they wish to participate in, and to discuss whether or not they aim to engage through social media in societal debates. In this chapter, we will conduct a thematic media analysis on five pressing topics—femicide, paid domestic work, abortion, islamophobia, and citizenship & rights—which have become central to polarized debates and societal divisions across Europe. We investigate how CSOs in these five countries navigate these debates across different social media platforms, examining the impact of country-specific factors, such as cultural norms, political climates, and legal frameworks, on their participation. We will look at how the tone, format, and type of discourse on these platforms shape the CSOs' approach to advocacy and activism. To study this, we analyze social media discourse, including posts, hashtags, comments, and debates, to track how these topics are presented, challenged, and discussed by CSOs. This approach will provide insights into whether and how these topics approach these five topics from an intersectional perspective, and how these debates reflect or reshape public opinion and are picked up by traditional media. Finally, by comparing the approaches, we aim to further gain a deeper understanding of the role of social media in shaping (alternative) conversations around gender empowerment and inclusion across different national contexts.