The “Female Gaze” in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism

Abstract of my thesis for the degree Master of Arts,
Arts & Culture at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

*The FI is from the World Press Photo website, taken by Oleg Ponomarev

In 2022, women are still underrepresented in the field of documentary photography and photojournalism. This is problematic because documentary photography and photojournalism are means through which we see, experience, and understand the world. Photographs form and reproduce social spaces and power structures as the field is attributed a democratizing power. Yet, how can photography also transform these social spaces and power structures? Moreover, publications and museums use the term “the female gaze” to highlight a new, female perspective. Yet, they do not specify what the gendered visual logic of the female gaze, encoded in the work of female artists, accounts for.

Accordingly, this thesis interrogates the possibilities of a gendered visual logic by exploring the popular term “female gaze”. Hence, it aims to empirically question visual clues of female subjectivity. Therefore, the first chapters sketch out the current state of documentary photography and photojournalism regarding the underrepresentation of women and the research conducted on gender differences in the field. Afterward, the focus lies on the question of to what extent can photographs as cultural exponents transform prevailing power structures in our society. Thus, this thesis builds on the theoretical considerations of Pierre Bourdieu, who covers the reciprocity of social relationships and attributes social capital to gender. Furthermore, Jacques Rancière addresses the transformative power of art and politics of photography, while Judith Butler also focuses on the latter’s performativity. The core of this thesis is the reflection of the female as a gendered visual logic in documentary photography and photojournalism. Subsequently, the corresponding chapters outline the gaze as a concept in academia, give an overview of popular ideas of the female gaze and lastly operationalize the female gaze by means of seven markers. The seven markers of the female gaze are applied to the case study of the 45 award-winning photographs of the WORLD PRESS PHOTO competition in 2021 in order to question the female gaze as a gendered visual logic. All these theoretical considerations, as well as the visual analysis of the case study, are summarized in the research question: How evident is a gendered visual logic in documentary photography and photojournalism using the award-winning photographs of the WOLRD PRESS PHOTO Awards 2021?

Keywords: Female Gaze, Documentary Photography, Photojournalism, Gender Equality, Female Representation, World Press Photo

Download the complete Master Thesis to “The Female Gaze” in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism here.