To be (different) or not to be: The role of gender in constructing diplomatic speeches

Abstract

With an increasing number of female political leaders worldwide, there has been a debate as to whether female politicians could bring alternative voices into politics, which has long been dominated by males. Some scholars highlight the role of gender identity, while others stress the masculine traits of political leadership. To contribute to this debate, we propose the idea of gender authenticity and argue that female politicians can strategically highlight their feminine traits and femininist consciousness even in a highly masculine environment. We compare the diplomatic speeches delivered by Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, who both served as secretary of state under former President Obama. Based on the framework of gender authenticity, we empirically examine how the remarks of these two top diplomatic officials differ in their topical, linguistic, and conceptual dimensions. While the political speeches of Clinton and Kerry behave similarly in terms of their linguistic styles, there are gendered differences in their topical and conceptual dimensions. The results suggest that Clinton pays closer attention to issues of women's rights and human rights, and that she also adopts a more feminine style in her interpretation of the concept of power.