Female empowerment in Portuguese comics: a manifestofor gender equality

Abstract

Starting from the definition of gender equality as a social construct and the idea of the ninth art as a socialising and educational vehicle, this study presents the following research question: how does the representation of gender appear in comics of Portuguese authorship published and exhibited in Portugal in the transition from the second to the third decade of the 21st century? The objective of the research is to analyse gender representations in Portuguese-authored comics. This research is based on a qualitative approach, through the use of qualitative analysis of the selected corpus; We opted for content analysis and chose analysis categories that are broken down into recording units. The results obtained demonstrate that comics offer a varied analysis of gender representations, giving greater visibility and expression to the female gender. They narrate the daily life and roles of women in today’s society, allowing the reader to reflect on stereotypes, gender (in)equality and discrimination, as well as emancipation and empowerment.