On July 25, 2025, in the framework of the XIII Congress of the International Language and Gender Association (IGALA13), held at the Universidad de la República, Uruguay, the researchers of the Universidad Católica del Maule (UCM), Dra. Mariana Lazzaro-Salazar (academic and alternate director of the ANID Rings Project ATE230028) and Karina Carrasco Jeldres (professional of the ANID Rings Project ATE230028), presented the paper entitled "Gender discourses and ideologies in popular opinion on online news of Climate Change involving women" . This exhibition was part of the "Minority Groups" symposium, which focused on discursive practices that reproduce and contest structural inequalities.
The research is part of the interdisciplinary project ANID ATE230028 ("Biodiversidad de la costa a las montañas: Un estudio socioambiental de las prácticas (eco)culturales de comunidades rurales en un escenario de cambio climático"), which articulates knowledge from ecology, sociolinguistics, anthropology and environmental humanities. In this line, the study presented seeks to investigate how gender ideologies are configured and reproduced in the popular opinion expressed in digital media on news linking climate change with women.
Traditionally, scientific and public policy discourses have framed women from two main meta-narratives: as vulnerable subjects, because they are disproportionately affected by extreme weather events, and as virtuous subjects, due to their greater inclination towards sustainable practices. However, these positionings are often rearticulated, questioned or reinforced in digital environments where the voices of a diversity of users are expressed. Through these spaces, culturally situated gender ideologies are manifested, with concrete effects on the way women are perceived, judged or excluded from the climate debate.
To address this phenomenon, the researchers adopted a methodological approach of humanistic netnography, which combines tools of critical discourse analysis with an ethnographic approach to digital cultures. The corpus analyzed consisted of user opinions (comments and responses) on news published between 2019 and 2024 by the main online media in Chile(Emol and La Tercera), as well as reactions to those same news published on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
The analysis, situated within the framework of interactional and critical sociolinguistics, allowed us to identify linguistic patterns and discursive strategies that sustain social imaginaries and naturalized representations of the role of women in the climate crisis. Among the findings, the persistence of gender stereotypes, the use of markers of discursive delegitimization and a frequent invisibilization of women's voices in debates on environmental solutions and policies stand out.
Likewise, it became evident how these digital discourses fulfill performative functions: they not only reflect prejudices or social ideologies, but also actively participate in the construction of the digital public sphere, reproducing practices of stigmatization, symbolic exclusion and discursive resistance. The research suggests that these spaces represent a key terrain for observing the limits and possibilities of gendered communication strategies in the context of the climate crisis.
This study constitutes an original contribution to discourse studies, ecocriticism and gender studies by focusing on the relationship between climate change and gender from the perspective of popular online discursive spaces, which are generally underexplored. It also offers recommendations for the design of public policies, communication interventions and educational strategies aimed at disarticulating sexist narratives and fostering greater epistemic inclusion in climate adaptation processes.
With this outstanding participation, the Universidad Católica del Maule, through its research team, consolidates its leadership in the field of environmental humanities, language studies and critical discourse analysis, reaffirming its commitment to a situated, interdisciplinary and gender-sensitive science, at the service of the challenges posed by climate change.
