Almenar, Ester, et al. “Gender Differences in Tackling Fake News: Different Degrees of Concern, but Same Problems.” Media and Communication, vol. 9, no. 1, 2021, pp. 229–238., doi:10.17645/mac.v9i1.3523. 

University of California, Berkeley

• Main objective of the study is to investigate if there are gender differences in how users’ perceive fake news.

• The researchers look at how gender affects the degree of concern about the effects of fake news.

• They investigate if there are gender differences when it comes to the ability to detect fake news. 

• Lastly, they look at if there are differences with regards to the topics of misinformation different genders are exposed to. 




Gender Differences in the Perception of Fake News

Gender Differences in Tackling Fake News: Different Degrees of Concern, but Same Problems

•The study only makes the man/woman gender distinction

•The research had a gender based approach to the topic of misinformation and used a representative survey of the Spanish population (N=1,001) over the age of 18. The sampling was stratified by age, sex, and autonomous community (There are 17 autonomous communities in Spain). 

•The researchers asked the participants about the relationship they have with fake news and about their ability to recognize fake news and assess the truthfulness of information. 


Participants of Study and Questions of Investigation


 •Previous research show significant gender differences and gaps with regards to news consumption. 

 •They also show that the two genders can have different motivations for using social media and that their consumption motivation can be explained through behavioural patterns of socialization. 

 •Scholars have made a distinction between misinformation, disinformation and mal-information to emphasize the complexity of the false information phenomenon, but in this study, the authors use fake news and misinformation interchangeably, because for common people, fake news encompasses many forms of misinformation.

 
 •The authors of the article seek to explore if previous results would be projected on gender based fake news research.


What do Previous Research Show

 •Spanish people are very concerned about the threat fake news poses on society.

 •On a scale of 1 to 7 (1 being not at all concerned and 7 being very concerned), The average response of the participants was 6.12. 

 •For men (x = 6.03)

 •For women (x = 6.21) 

 •Women are significantly more concerned than men regarding the spread of fake news.

 •However, the gender differences with regards to the concern about fake news dissemination is not present among the youngest and oldest age groups in the study. It was observed in the 30 to 59 age range.

 •Men under 30 showed more concern than men between the age of 30 and 59.

 •Among women, increasing concern about the dissemination of fake news was observed among the participants between 30–59 age range. 

 •The most concerned participants attach greater importance to the source of the content.

 •Men’s and women’s perception of difficulty in identifying fake news is similar.

 •Men are more likely to receive fake news on political issues, while a greater proportion of women are more likely to receive fake news about celebrities. 


What the Results of the Study Showed


 •One way the authors explain why women may not engage with political matters as much as men is using the existence of structural inequalities. If we consider that women are, in general, less educated about political matters and are less socialized than men to engage in political matters, the ‘cognitive costs’ of  focusing and making sense of political topics might be higher. They also consider the effect the general conception that technology is a male dominated field might have on women’s relationship with technology and fake news.

 •The authors conclude that there are few differences between genders with regard to disinformation. There are more observable gender differences in other related matters such as social media use or news consumption.


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