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Women Politicians: Media Objects or Political Subjects?
Abstract
This article adopts a Foucauldian discourse approach to analyse the media representation of women politicians. It examines the media focus on women's bodies which serves to position the women as different, as gendered. The women's use of public relations techniques to attempt to resist the restricted discursive positioning creates a discursive struggle for control of the subject 'woman politician'. Attention is drawn to the maintenance of mediated political discourse as a male domain.
... Despite the momentous role a few female politicians are playing in different parts of the world, opportunities to excel in the public domain have always been limited for females. All through human intellectual history, dominant philosophical streams harboured a propensity to exclude women from politics because women belonged to private sphere, and being psychologically emotional entities responsible for reproduction and family care, females were considered less accomplished for running the administrative affairs of the state (Motion 1996;Okin 1979;Van Zoonen 2005). Jamieson (1988) skillfully captured how women could not achieve fame through public speech and their voices were silenced by way of imposing strict restrictions on their right to express themselves in the public sphere by their male counterparts. ...
... These chick flicks are chiefly marketed to females and endorse all conformist myths related to the role of a woman in a traditional family. Since politics is a field reserved for men, women could only enter into the restricted domain of politics if male family members sanction their entry (Motion 1996). Through these movies, sympathy is generated for the continuation and survival of political dynasties by using the innocent housewives who were forced to challenge the ruthless political opponents bent upon annihilating their families. ...
Of late, researchers have examined the stereotyping of female politicians in entertainment media as a serious problem in several democratic societies. Despite chauvinism and stereotyping, the entertainment industries find female politicians attractive content producers, which guarantee tangible profit, as audiences are interested in learning about the life stories of female politicians. This article employs feminist political economy of communication to analyse exposé of female politicians in three Bollywood chick flick movies featuring lead characters in important political positions. This study finds that chick flicks—movies centred on attractive female lead characters and typically marketed to women—serve as a mechanism to sell commercial entertainment products to both female and male audiences. I argue that Bollywood’s political movies are marketed through a focus on bodily attributes of female politicians that helps perpetuate patriarchal ideology in which women are passive homemakers and effectively domesticated and excluded from public sphere.
... They are frequently portrayed as exceptions and 'diversions from the serious male game of politics'. Motion's (1996) study of women's politicians in New Zealand buttresses this fact. The study reveals that successful women politicians were often portrayed as lacking feminine characteristics and resembling their male counterparts. ...
... They are frequently portrayed as exceptions and 'diversions from the serious male game of politics'. Motion's (1996) study of women's politicians in New Zealand buttresses this fact. The study reveals that successful women politicians were often portrayed as lacking feminine characteristics and resembling their male counterparts. ...
The objective of this paper is to investigate the gendered portrayal of political actors in Nigerian print media and its impact on women’s political participation based on an empirical study. The study adopted a combination of methods – content analysis and cross-sectional survey. A case study of the coverage of the corruption charges of two former Speakers of the lower legislature (male and female, respectively) during the 2007-2011 administration was conducted on two purposely selected daily newspapers – The Punch and The Guardian. To complement the findings of the content analysis, a cross-sectional survey was conducted on a sample size of 100 respondents on their perception of media portrayal of female politicians. Findings of the content analyses revealed that the coverage of the cases was gendered, with the female Speaker’s case being sensationalised, hyped and trivialised. However, the findings of the survey indicate that a majority of the respondents saw the coverage as justifiable, believing the media simply reported the truth about the female Speaker.
... Female politicians are often scrutinized more intensely and judged more harshly than their male counterparts (see Motion 1996;Seltzer and Newman 1997;Henderson 1999;Van Acker 1999;Jenkins 2002;Baird 2004). Henderson (1999) explains the media's treatment of female politicians using the pedestal theory. ...
This study aims to assess the potency of smear campaigns in politics and whether damage can be mitigated. The main effects of and interactions between different types of scandals (adultery, misuse of public money/tax evasion & abuses of power), types of accounting strategies (excuse, justification, refusal & concession), and the gender of the politician are tested. Respondents evaluate the politicians in terms of perceptions of their integrity, persuasiveness and openness following the scandal, as well as assessing the electoral impact of the scandal and the limits of privacy. Politicians who justify their behavior positively or deny involvement altogether can mitigate the damage to some extent.
... However, when women are in the picture because they are women, their gender difference becomes central to the story. The news media often situate female politicians as women first, politicians second by highlighting their marital status, sexuality, appearance and domestic roles, and simultaneously obscuring or overlooking their issue positions (Carroll and Schreiber 1997; Devitt 1999; Fountaine 2000; Fountaine and McGregor 2003; Heldman, Carroll and Olson 2000; Jenkins 1996 Jenkins , 1999 McGregor 1996; Motion 1996; Saint-Jean 1991, 1996; Ross, 1995; Van Acker 1999). For instance, newspaper coverage of Elizabeth Dole's 1999 bid for the leadership of the Republican Party accorded less attention to her issue positions and more to her personal traits than did coverage of her male opponents (Aday and Devitt 2001). ...
If masculine norms define political leadership roles and shape media coverage of leadership contests they are likely to be revealed by press coverage of serious challenges by women for the leadership of competitive political parties. The new Conservative Party of Canada's inaugural leadership race featured such a candidate, Belinda Stronach. While Stronach lost the leadership to Stephen Harper on the first ballot, she ran a well-financed, staffed and organized campaign, enjoyed considerable backing from party insiders, and placed a respectable second. This paper reports the results of a content analysis of all news stories, opinion pieces, editorials and columns published about the leadership race in Canada's national newspapers, the Globe and Mail and the National Post, from January 13 to March 22, 2004. It reveals striking differences in the amount of coverage accorded the candidates, as well as sexist framing and gendered evaluations of the female candidate. While Belinda Stronach's campaign received a plethora of media attention, a considerable amount of it scrutinized her looks, wardrobe, sexual availability and personal background while mocking her leadership aspirations and deriding her qualifications for political office. Press coverage of the Conservative leadership race confirms both the intensely performative nature of gender in political spaces and the tendency of the media to normalize male leadership.
This paper examines the processes used to create and communicate the public identities of New Zealand women politicians. Interviews conducted with women politicians and their public relations practitioners are drawn upon in order to develop a public relations framework for working with individuals. The framework is developed from Foucault’s work on technologies of the self and comprises six technologies of the self: historical narration, positioning, commodification, mediatisation, aestheticisation, and moral career.
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