Women, Gender, and Politics
Session: N15 - Workshop - Mediation of Gendered Identities in Canadian Politics (Panel 3): Voting for (Certain) Gendered Identities?
Date: Jun 2, 2016 | Time: 03:15pm to 04:45pm | Location: Science Theatres 129
Chair/Présidente: Angelia Wagner (McGill University)
Discussant/Commentatrice: Shannon Sampert (University of Winnipeg)
Participants & Authors/Auteurs:
Catherine Lemarier-Saulnier (Université Laval), Thierry Giasson (Université Laval) : She’s too tough and he’s too soft: Measuring how gendered news frames affect voters’ evaluation of party leaders
Abstract: This paper sheds light on how voters use gender stereotypes present in news coverage of elections to evaluate political performances of leaders of both sexes. More specifically, it explains how gendered frames are used as shortcuts in the evaluation of political leaders’ performances and in voters’ decision process. The data is generated through an online experiment conducted during the Quebec provincial campaign of 2014 and looks specifically at how gendered frames affect the spontaneous cognitive responses (SCR) of the participants exposed to different experimental conditions. Results show that participants exposed to gendered framing in media coverage have a higher probability to express gendered reactions than those who were not exposed to it. Furthermore, the analysis reveals which sociodemographic and political variables contribute to the variation in the probability to cast a gendered evaluation. This innovative research design looks at the gendering of political performance in connection with spontaneous cognitive responses generated by news frames, an approach which has not been used in Canadian research so far and may contribute to future theoretical development.
Joanna Everitt (University of New Brunswick) : Sexual orientation and political stereotypes: Media coverage’s impact on voters’ evaluations
Abstract: This paper explores how the public stereotypes politicians based on gender and sexual orientation when cued about these identities through media coverage in low information environments. In doing so it contributes to the general study of gender and identity in politics, with particular attention to the question of how these stereotypes may or may not have a damaging or marginalizing effect on gays or lesbians seeking electoral office. More specifically, the study addresses whether the media creates, or simply triggers existing stereotypes of gender and sexual orientation. It is based upon an experimental design in which respondents are provided with successive news stories, each providing additional information about the candidate including their gender and sexual orientation. Respondents are then required to respond to a questionnaire asking them to evaluate the political candidate on a series of character traits.
Delia Dumitrescu (University of Gothenburg), Elisabeth Gidengil (McGill University), Dietlind Stolle (McGill University) : Confidence or content? How voters respond to female candidates’ video speeches
Abstract: This paper draws on role congruity theory to examine whether voters' responses to candidate speeches are gendered. Role congruity theory focuses on the disjuncture between gender stereotypes and the requirements of leadership roles. It highlights a classic double bind for female candidates: if they behave assertively they risk being penalized for acting counter to feminine stereotypes but if they fail to be sufficiently assertive they may pay a price for failing to conform to the dominant masculine norms of political behaviour. We describe an experiment that we conducted to examine whether voters respond differently to male and female candidates, depending on the content of their speech and the confidence with which it is delivered. We videotaped professional actors (posing as candidates) delivering two different versions of a speech on the environment, first with a confidant delivery and then much less confidently. One version of the speech was much more strongly argued than the other. Voters were randomly assigned to watch one of the videotaped speeches delivered by either the male or the female “candidate.” The results indicate that projecting confidence is more important for a female candidate than her male counterpart and that the way she delivers the speech is more important than the actual content.
The theory of gendered mediation asserts that the news media reinforce the traditional notion that politics is primarily a male activity by using masculine language, norms, attitudes, and stereotypes to describe politics, political affairs and individual political actors. Scholars have typically explored the nature of gendered mediation by empirically examining media depictions of women seeking powerful political positions at the national level, such as president. Scholars have only recently begun to investigate how women politicians’ rhetorical strategies either reinforce or subvert traditional gender stereotypes in politics. Research on voter reactions to gendered political communication has been even more limited. While these investigations are important to understanding the theoretical underpinnings and empirical realities of the use of gender in political communication, gendered mediation research has typically focused too narrowly on journalistic behaviour and, even then, toward a specific type of politician—namely, white, affluent, heterosexual women seeking national office. What is left uninterrogated, and therefore unchallenged, is the myriad ways in which gendered mediation is strongly influenced by notions about race/ethnicity, sexuality, class and other socially constructed identities. Presentations will examine how gender intersects with other socially constructed identities to shape politicians’ communication strategies, media representations of politicians, and voter evaluations of both. They will determine how the mediation of gendered identities shapes political communication in Canada, as well as the nature of the Canadian political system. Most importantly, presentations will discuss the implications of gendered mediation for Canadian democracy, both overall and for specific groups of political actors.
Panel 3: Voting for (Certain) Gendered Identities?
Papers will examine the role of gender stereotypes in voter evaluations of different types of women and men politicians.
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