Women In Politics Research Articles

Sexism on display: The image of women politicians through the prism of journalistic discourse

From 1960s onwards sexist language intended to denigrate, objectify and trivialize women has been seriously exposed internationally and huge efforts were made to replace it with gender-neutral language. However, to date, sexism has not been fully suppressed and it is especially conspicuous in relation to women who assume active roles in public life. This study has both qualitative and quantitative design and looks into the presence of overt and implicit sexism (as categorized by Mills, 2008) in journalistic discourse and the role of sexist language in molding the image of modern day women politicians. For the purposes of this study, we conduct a critical discourse analysis of a corpus of 40 news articles published on various online news portals and electronic platforms of traditional media. All analyzed articles comment on the political statements and actions of two Macedonian female politicians currently in office – the Minister of Defense and the Mayor of the city of Skopje. The findings suggest that Macedonian journalistic discourse, under the pretext that politicians’ dealings need to be monitored closely, scrutinized and even criticized, still leaves the door slightly open for both overt and implicit sexist linguistic forms, which, in turn, depicts female politicians as ill-suited for this type of professional occupation.

Revolutionaries as Political Women

The purpose of studying women’s participation in radical movements, as the classical study We Were Making History notes, is ‘an attempt to broaden the history of that struggle by recovering the subjective experience of women, to capture women’s voices from the past and to present issues as they were perceived by women’ (Stree Shakti Sanghathana, 1989, 2). Taking this framework as the point of departure, this article seeks to explore the history of women’s participation in the secessionist politics of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). Deviating from the existing scholarships on the subject that rightly focus on the lack of adequate women’s representation at the leadership level, this article argues that representation at formal political negotiations is not the only form of political activity that women aspire to. Instead, in their own way, many of these revolutionaries have in fact turned into ‘political women’. Fictional writings in the Assamese language are more forthcoming than academic scholarship in recognizing this alternative, informal politics in which women engage. At the same time, it is important to note that these ‘political women’ need not be free from conventional gendered prejudices.

Socio-Economic and Cultural Barriers that Affect Women’s Participation in Local Level Governance in the Central Region of Ghana

The study sought to examine the socio-economic and cultural factors that affect women’s participation in local level governance in selected districts in the Central Region of Ghana. The qualitative approach was employed for this study, and an interview guide was used to gather data from 11 women assembly members and two of their husbands, making a total of 13 participants. The participants were sampled using purposive, snowball and convenient sampling techniques. The data was analysed thematically. The study identified lack of self-confidence, limited funds, unsupportive family, abuse and harassment, political affiliations in the Assembly and unsupportive religious organizations as the socio-economic and cultural barriers to women participation in local level governance in Agona West, Gomoa West and Gomoa Central Districts in the Central Region of Ghana. The findings showed that despite the barriers, some of the women were able to surmount such challenges and became successful in the District Assembly elections. The study recommended that special fund should be set up by the government to support Assembly women to perform their roles and responsibilities within their communities regularly. Such funds may help them fulfil their campaign promises, which may encourage them to seek re-election in the District Assemblies. Also, female politicians should mentor potential female politicians. The mentors may support them to build the confidence required to engage in local level politics and to aspire higher positions in political office.

At the Crossroads of Gender, Power and Audiovisual Culture: Female Politicians and Businesswomen as Represented in Polish Cinema after 1989

Contemporary discourse on gender equality in the mass media focuses primarily on analysing news programmes, TV series and advertisements. However, films also constitute powerful cultural stimuli, capable of modifying the attitudes and behaviour of both audiences and the society as a whole. The strength and longevity of their impact lie in their deep roots in the culture in which they operate. For cinematic representations of women and men, this process implies the need to constantly refer to a certain stock of conventions, cultural stereotypes and ways of thinking about gender present in the mentality and social structures of a given community. The same applies to images of women in power in film, which on the one hand are determined by cultural patterns attributed to each gender, while on the other they themselves contribute to their perpetuation in the social consciousness, at the same time creating social images of relations between gender and power in political and economic life. The article discusses this phenomenon in relation to selected Polish films after 1989. The paper will analyse how the roles and behavioural patterns attributed to women were (re)defined in the (changing) public sphere and what the position of characters representing these characteristics was in the narrative of the films.

Violence Against Black Women in Politics: Experiences and Testimonials from Brazil

In this article the authors aim to understand the specificity of violence against Black women in Brazilian politics through the analysis of testimonies of Black politicians in different administrative positions and various regions of Brazil. Adopting the “Violence Against Women in Politics” (VAWIP) analytical model developed by Mona Lena Krook, the goal of this approach is to highlight the forms that this violence takes in the Brazilian context when gender and race intersect. In doing so, the article pursues two objectives. First, it offers an overview of violence against Black women in Brazilian politics, demonstrating how this phenomenon manifests itself in the analysis of these cases. Second, it observes how the testimonies of Black women politicians go beyond the analytical model proposed by Mona Lena Krook (2020), thus accounting for the intersectional specificities of political violence.

On Women's Political Rights Discrimination In 1965: Exploring Notions and Orientations Within Najib Kailani's Novel Adzra’ Jakarta

Abstrak:Hak politik merupakan bentuk kebebasan manusia untuk menyatakan pendapat. Pada kenyataannya, perempuan tidak memiliki hak politik dan hanya didominasi oleh laki-laki, seperti yang terjadi di Indonesia pada tahun 1965 Masehi. Hal ini terjadi karena diskriminasi terhadap perempuan sudah menjadi tradisi. Oleh karena itu, penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui diskriminasi terhadap hak politik perempuan di Indonesia pada tahun 1965 M yang terdapat dalam novel “Adzra' Jakarta” karya Najib Kailani berdasarkan perspektif Immanuel Kant. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian deskriptif kualitatif. Pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan teknik membaca dan mencatat. Teknik analisis data menggunakan tiga langkah: (1) reduksi data, pemilahan data dari studi analisis yang telah diperoleh; (2) penyajian data, penyajian data sesuai topik pembahasan; dan (3) penarikan kesimpulan, merangkum data yang telah disajikan. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa hak-hak politik perempuan di Indonesia pada tahun 1965 M cenderung tidak dihargai, didiskriminasi, dieksploitasi, Keterbatasan informasi, Keterbatasan ide/pendapat, dan Tidak bisa memimpin. Penelitian ini berperan penting untuk mengetahui pandangan orang luar terhadap Indonesia pada tahun 1965 dan menyadarkan pembaca akan ketidakadilan yang terjadi pada perempuan.

Strong and caring? The stereotypic traits of women of color in politics

ABSTRACT We apply a theory of stereotype subtypes and subgroups from social psychology to clarify whether there is a uniform “women of color” stereotype and whether there are differences in the stereotypes ascribed to women across different racial and ethnic backgrounds. We test the extent to which positive feminine and positive masculine stereotypes comprise the stereotype content of not only Latinas and Black women but also Asian women, Native American women, and Muslim women vying for political leadership roles. Using three empirical tests, we test for the presence of a unique women of color stereotype category that fits into a subtype that differs from the stereotypes of female politicians more generally. We also test for whether subgroups defined by a woman’s race and/or ethnicity exist within the broader women of color stereotype category. We find limited evidence of a unique women of color subtype or subgroup stereotypes as individuals make few distinctions between women belonging to different racial and ethnic categories. These results have implications for the abilities of Latinas, Black women, Asian women, Native American women, and Muslim women to run for and win political office.

Nurturing Prospective Female Politicians in Local Governance and Community Development

Nurturing Prospective Female Politicians in Local Governance and Community Development

POLITIC THROUGH DA’WAH ON FACEBOOK: EXPLORING DA’WAH STRATEGY IN WOMEN’S POLITICAL COMMUNICATION

This research investigates Da'wah activities conducted by women politicians on Facebook, focusing on Intsiawati Ayus, a member of the DPD RI in Indonesia. The study employs qualitative content analysis, utilizing a pragmatic form to classify signs related to Bil-Haal Da'wah and Bit-Tadwin Da'wah. A total of 26 Facebook posts from the influential female politician were analyzed. The findings reveal that women politicians engage in Bil-Haal Da'wah, which showcases exemplary da'wah activities for the community to emulate. Additionally, they conduct Bit-Tadwin Da'wah through written content on social media platforms. These results highlight the significant role of Muslim politicians, with verified Facebook accounts, in carrying out Da'wah activities beyond traditional preachers, providing insights into the communication strategies adopted by women politicians in promoting their political and religious beliefs. The politicians also encourage the audience to refrain from spreading fake news and pray for the deceased. They also advocate for spending time with family, emphasizing the significance of family bonding in Islamic teachings. The research concludes that politicians can effectively carry out da'wah activities through social media, setting examples for the community and fostering a sense of brotherhood and religious commitment among followers.

A Double Standard? Gender Bias in Voters' Perceptions of Political Arguments

AbstractDo the styles politicians use influence how voters evaluate them, and does this matter more for women than for men? Politicians regularly use anecdotal arguments, emotional appeals and aggressive attacks when communicating with voters. However, that women politicians have been branded as ‘nasty’, ‘inhuman’ and ‘unfeminine’ suggests that these strategies may come at a price for some. I report on a novel survey experiment assessing whether voters are biased in their perceptions and evaluations of politicians' communication styles. By manipulating politician gender and argument style, I assess, first, whether politicians incur backlash when violating gender-based stereotypes and, secondly, whether differential perceptions of the styles themselves explain this backlash. I find that style usage has important consequences for how voters evaluate politicians but that this is not gendered. These results have important implications, as they suggest that women politicians may not need to conform to stereotype-expected behaviours in order to receive positive voter evaluations.

The Italian parliamentary election of 2022: the populist radical right takes charge

The Italian parliamentary election of 2022 was called following Mario Draghi’s resignation in June. The campaign took place – for the first time in Italian history – over the summer. Yet, its crucial moments occurred in the very first days, when parties had to present the respective coalition strategies. In a matter of weeks, Italy’s political system moved from the embryonic tripolarism inaugurated in 2013 to a full-fledged quadripolarism. The election saw less than two thirds of the eligible voting population participate – a new all-time low for Italian general elections. The result awarded a clear victory to the center-right coalition, due to its successes in most FPTP constituencies. Given the clear indications which emerged from the election results, the process of government formation took less than a month overall. This election can be considered historical in at least two ways. The first is the formation of a government led for the first time by a female politician, Giorgia Meloni. The second is the political composition of her government, with two populist radical right parties in control of about 80 percent of the votes cast in favour of the governing coalition.

Issues and challenges for women in creating spaces at decision-making levels: A case study of Pakistan Muslim league-N

In many Western and Asian countries, women’s empowerment has increased significantly, yet women are still underrepresented in political participation and political decision-making. This study explores the political engagement of women in a society that discriminates against them on the basis of their sex, and in a political system that is heavily patriarchal. The study is aimed at exploring the issues and challenges that women confront in political participation and decision-making in the party political space. To achieve this goal, a qualitative approach has been adopted, in which data has been collected and processed in a qualitative manner. This research conducts a case study of Pakistan Muslim League (N) which served as a sample for data collection. Thematic analysis has been used to decipher the comments of important stakeholders interviewed for qualitative data, as described by Braun and Clarke. Although literature has studied the complex of multiple interlinked causes for women’s insufficient and ineffective political participation, this article presents a novel way to explore those issues and a thematic way to understand their complexity. However, the study's findings indicate that women's political engagement and decision-making are hampered for a variety of reasons. A male-dominated culture, lack of social acceptance, structural halts, gender-imbalanced political parties, societal vulnerability threats and an inability to empower women are a few of the main concerns. Numerous specific problems have been identified as well, such as the persistence of historical patterns and the opportunity gap as well as psychological satisfaction and religious excuses for the lack of political participation and the vulnerability of being scandalized, weak economic status and gender sensitivity in the workplace. In Pakistani society, these highlighted variables are so firmly ingrained in the political and social structure that they are mostly taken for granted and go unnoticed.

The visual semiotics of digital misogyny: female leaders in the viewfinder

ABSTRACT The proliferation of gender-based violence against women in politics (WIP) is increasingly recognized as a global phenomenon of interest. In particular, the new affordances of the Web 2.0 play a crucial role in the use of language, images, and other symbols to marginalize and exclude women as political actors. This paper illustrates the visual semiotics of misogyny against WIP on social media platforms. Two multimodal strategies are inductively identified and critically explicated as examples of semiotic violence at work: 1) image manipulation and 2) false identity attribution, both characterized by the use of image-based, user-generated content to abuse WIP. Delving into an inductive conceptualization of digital visual misogyny, this paper accounts for the long-standing, sexist and objectifying attention towards women’s bodies which now proliferates on the inherently visual digital media platforms. As such, it underscores the relevance of a semiotic and multimodal approach to social media data in order to critically analyze the complex, multimodal discursive events of the Web 2.0.

Attitudinal Analysis of Women's Political Participation in Ecuador: Social and Legal Perspectives

The main objective of this research is to analyze the participation of women in Ecuador in multi-person and single-person popular election processes at a legal and social level between 2019 and 2021. This is a documentary study corresponding to the qualitative paradigmatic modality, descriptive in scope and ethnographic design where the analytical-synthetic, inductive-deductive-historical-logical and legal interpretation methods were used. Data from the 2019 elections corresponding to multi-personal positions such as mayors, prefects, urban and rural councilors and unipersonal positions corresponding to president, vice-president and national, provincial and foreign assembly members elected in the 2021 elections are analyzed. The findings show that women in Ecuadorian politics have difficulties in being elected and achieving parity, identifying a gender gap at all levels that is due to multidimensional factors explained in this study. It was determined that despite the existence of different regulations that promote gender equality and women's representation in the political world in Ecuador, these have not been able to materialize due to criteria related to the deep and marked social stereotypes that are maintained in the country.
 
 Received: 21 August 2022 / Accepted: 3 October 2022 / Published: 5 November 2022

Effect of Female Politicians on Postprimary Education and Intergenerational Education Spending

This paper studies whether exposure to female politicians during adolescence affects postprimary education, including a longer-term intergenerational impact in India. Using close mixed-gender elections won by women as an instrument for the election of female legislators, I find that female politicians increase the likelihood of urban women completing higher secondary schooling. Further, exposure leads rural women to spend more on their children’s education years later, particularly in households with more girls, participate more in household decision making, and exhibit a decline in son preference. Given the pro-male bias in educational expenditures in rural households, the results underscore the importance of exposure to more gender-equal settings during adolescence in mitigating such biases.

Analysis of the Discourse of Disrespect of Women in Politics: Hating Hillary and Getting Gillard

From June 2010 until June 24th 2013, and at times into 2014 the then Prime Minister of Australia The Honourable Ms Julia Gillard was subjected to the most intense and ruthless political rhetoric ever seen in Australian media. Personal attacks and talk back callers openly admitting they “hated her” and calling into question her mental state and hormonal status was just part of a brutal media campaign aided and abetted by Opposition Leader in Tony Abbott. He linguistically derailed a reforming and intelligent woman who held together a minority parliament which delivered significant legislation. In addition, a selection of media articles and a review of media analysis of the candidacy of Hillary Clinton in preparing a run for the White House in the USA during the years 2015-2016 echoes eerie parallels to a sub textual cultural discourse of misogyny especially in politics. This discourse analysis and media study questions whether the core of the Real Matilda misogyny reported by Miriam Dixson in Australia since 1976 is alive and well and lingers on in our linguistic heritage. The polarisation of political debate and concomitant bias some media quarters is analysed and shown to have a significant pattern beginning with disapproval and ending in directional linguistic commands from media. The end result was that the Politicians listened to the unrelenting chorus of demands to “end leadership speculation “and complete chaos and to go to an election.

Psychology, politics, and female empowerment: An interview with Dr. Bobbie Celeste.

In the following interview, Bobbie Celeste, PhD, reflects on her experiences as a counseling psychologist, longtime social justice advocate, and founder and codirector of the Women's Political Leadership Circles. She provides specific details regarding her path to her current position, the nature of her work (i.e., setting, duties, challenges), and her hopes for the future. She also reflects on what she has learned over the years and provides guidance for mental health professionals interested in pursuing political advocacy work. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Limits of Women's Political Participation in Algeria and Tunisia: Obstacles and Challenges

This study examines the approach to political empowerment of women in Algeria and Tunisia by studying the variable of decision-making and political participation, as the Arab region has the lowest participation of women in political life globally, and despite the improvement in the status of Arab women in general, there are many critical gaps, and challenges faced by empowering women in positions of decision-making and power. The aim of this study is to analyze the obstacles to women’s political participation in Tunisia and Algeria, which stand as a barrier to enabling Arab women’s participation in politics and decision-making. More on cultural, social, political, economic, and legal factors. The study concluded that the promotion of civil liberties, a high indicator of development, the electoral process and pluralism are elements that will increase the political participation of Arab women.

BIAS GENDER IN PORTRAYING FEMALE POLITICIAN IN MEDIA: A TALE OF TWO CITIES

Abstract: Research on gender bias is always interesting and can continue research related to other fields. One is the study of gender bias in reporting women leaders in the mass media. The social construction in Indonesia distinguishes men and women. Megawati Soekarnoputri is a female leader known as the first and only female President in Indonesia. This study uncovers the news content of two newspapers in Indonesia, namely Kompas and Kedaulatan Rakyat, during Megawati's presidency in the era 2001 - 2004. The researcher uses a content analysis method with the "pen pix" dimension by Cathy Jenkins. This study then interviewed two female journalists from Kompas and Kedaulatan Rakyat to confirm the findings of the news text research in the context of the news production process at the Kompas and Kedaulatan Rakyat editorial staff. The study results show that Kompas and Kedaulatan Rakyat are still gender-biased and focus more on the appearance and personal character of female politicians. The implications of this research are considered essential for media actors' guidelines to maintain gender equality between women and men as news subjects through the choice of news angles and news content flow.
 
 Keywords: Gender, media, female leader, Megawati, news content

Gendered violence in state house races

ABSTRACT There is a growing body of literature suggesting that women politicians face greater hostility and violence than men and that this depresses the willingness of women to serve and ultimately descriptive representation. Here we add to this burgeoning literature by examining gender differences in the psychological and physical violence experienced by state house candidates in the 2020 election cycle. Using a survey administered in 18 states, we find that women candidates were significantly more likely than men to report physical violence but not psychological violence. Further, women reported significantly more gendered violence, including sexualized violence. For women, but not for men, running in states more likely to support traditional gender norms was associated with more reported violence. Finally, on one measure of power (running for seats in full-time legislatures), women were more likely than men to report violence.