Women’s Rhetorical Strategies in Climate Change Communication on Social Media

Examining women’s rhetorical strategies in climate change communication on social media provides a window to consider the fundamental relationship between climate change and gender equality. I focus on the content of five women (Abby Cannon, Mary Heglar, Tamar Haspel, Lauren Singer, and Greta Thunberg) on Instagram and Twitter. Drawing on feminist philosophy on climate change, intersectional analytical frameworks, and Foucauldian discourse analysis, my thesis situates women in the context climate change communication on social media and identifies themes that illuminate nuanced aspects of rhetoric that may reinforce or defy certain power patters and underlying social categorizations. Themes of identity, community, and entrepreneurialism amidst Cannon, Heglar, Haspel, Singer, and Thunberg’s social media rhetoric suggests points of tension and strength in the connection between climate change and gender equality.