Running as a woman (or man): a review of research on political communicators and gender stereotypes
Autor/in:
Winfrey, Kelly L.; Schnoebelen, James M.
Quelle: Review of Communication Research, 7 (2019) , S 109-138
Inhalt: Women gained the right to vote nearly 100 years ago, but it was not until 1980 that political scholars and practitioners began paying much attention to the role of women in elections. Twelve years later it was the so-called "Year of the Woman" in 1992 that sparked increased scholarly attention on women as political communicators. A record number of women, 117, ran for the U.S. Congress in 1992, but the number of women running and serving has been slow to increases since that time. One reason may be the unique challenges gender poses for female political communicators. Over three decades of research has proven gender stereotypes and expectations play a key role in how women (and men) communicate with voters. This review of research summarizes major findings and changes in gender and political communication research over the past three decades. Our focus is on communication by candidates and how gender shapes that communication. In all, 133 scholarly sources were reviewed; these sources included scholarly journals from related disciplines as well as books using quantitative, qualitative, and rhetorical methods. Our analysis demonstrates that gender stereotypes are still prevalent in American political campaigns, and women candidates must work to overcome the belief that they are not masculine enough to be political leaders. Additionally this review reveals two common strategies candidates use to negotiate gender stereotypes: feminine style and gender adaptiveness. We conclude that more research is needed to better understand how candidates navigate gender stereotypes in the 21st century, particularly in political debates and online communication.
Schlagwörter:gender studies; Politik; suffrage; political communication; communication research; Präsidentschaftswahl; Kampagne; politische Kommunikation; Wahlrecht; Wahl; campaign; gender; Stereotyp; Kommunikationsforschung; election; Gender; Kandidatur; stereotype; woman; Geschlechterforschung; politics; presidential election; candidacy; femininer Stil
SSOAR Kategorie:Kommunikationssoziologie, Sprachsoziologie, Soziolinguistik, Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung
Representation of women in the news: balancing between career and family life
Autor/in:
Vandenberghe, Hanne
Quelle: Media and Communication, 7 (2019) 1, S 4-12
Inhalt: An in-depth literature review showed that women, despite their increasingly prominent roles worldwide, continue to be persistently underrepresented and stereotyped in news media. This study aimed to investigate the extent to which the representation of women changed over time in two Dutch-speaking Belgian newspapers De Standaard and Het Laatste Nieuws. An automated quantitative content analysis revealed that there is no increase of the number of women in the newspapers between 2005 and 2015. On the contrary, women are significantly less represented over time in the popular newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. A qualitative analysis on two cases about women stepping into a leadership position -in 2012 (Catherine De Bolle as head of the Federal police) and in 2014 (Dominique Leroy as CEO of a Belgian telecom company)- showed that the press emphasised their femininity, their being a role model for other women, their being part of a family and having certain looks. Moreover, these women are clearly portrayed as "the best candidate" pointing at the selection procedures and their capabilities to perform professionally. Probably, this strong emphasis is a way of justifying that these women are not selected because of positive discrimination. Further analysis of cases of both men and women stepping into top positions across countries and media platforms is recommended.
Inhalt: In this article, we draw a parallel between equality of opportunity in educational transitions and equality of opportunity in academic careers. In both cases, many methodological problems can be ameliorated by the use of longitudinal rather than cross-sectional data. We illustrate this point by using Finnish full-population register data to follow the educational and academic careers of the 1964-1966 birth cohorts from birth to the present day. We show how the Finnish professoriate is highly selected both in terms of parental background and in terms of gender. Individuals of different backgrounds differ greatly in the likelihood of completing different educational and academic transitions, but much less in the age at which they make these transitions. By contrast, women’s academic careers differ from those of men both in terms of timing and in terms of rates, with women’s PhDs and full professorships seemingly delayed compared to those of men. We additionally show with the help of a 2015 cross-section of Finnish professors how such differences are easily overlooked in cross-sectional data.
Schlagwörter:Bildung; academic (female); gender; Akademikerin; education; Chancengleichheit; Hochschulbildung; academy; Gender; equality of rights; Akademie; Karriere; Finland; woman; Gleichberechtigung; Akademiker; equal opportunity; Finnland; career; university level of education; academic
SSOAR Kategorie:Wissenschaftssoziologie, Wissenschaftsforschung, Technikforschung, Techniksoziologie, Berufsforschung, Berufssoziologie, Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung
Representation of women in the news: balancing between career and family life
Autor/in:
Vandenberghe, Hanne
Quelle: Media and Communication, 7 (2019) 1, S 4-12
Inhalt: An in-depth literature review showed that women, despite their increasingly prominent roles worldwide, continue to be persistently underrepresented and stereotyped in news media. This study aimed to investigate the extent to which the representation of women changed over time in two Dutch-speaking Belgian newspapers De Standaard and Het Laatste Nieuws. An automated quantitative content analysis revealed that there is no increase of the number of women in the newspapers between 2005 and 2015. On the contrary, women are significantly less represented over time in the popular newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. A qualitative analysis on two cases about women stepping into a leadership position -in 2012 (Catherine De Bolle as head of the Federal police) and in 2014 (Dominique Leroy as CEO of a Belgian telecom company)- showed that the press emphasised their femininity, their being a role model for other women, their being part of a family and having certain looks. Moreover, these women are clearly portrayed as "the best candidate" pointing at the selection procedures and their capabilities to perform professionally. Probably, this strong emphasis is a way of justifying that these women are not selected because of positive discrimination. Further analysis of cases of both men and women stepping into top positions across countries and media platforms is recommended.
Gender-Gap in der politischen Partizipation und Repräsentation: Ein internationaler Vergleich und die Situation von Frauen in der österreichischen Kommunalpolitik
Autor/in:
Dörfler, Sonja; Kaindl, Markus
Quelle: Österreichisches Institut für Familienforschung an der Universität Wien; Wien (Forschungsbericht / Österreichisches Institut für Familienforschung an der Universität Wien, 31), 2019. 164 S
Inhalt: Diese Studie untersucht, wie sich der Gender-Gap bei der Politikpartizipation und politischen Repräsentation in Österreich im Vergleich zu anderen Ländern entwickelt hat und welche Faktoren die Teilhabechancen von Frauen beeinflussen. Dafür wurden Verwaltungsdaten analysiert und Auswertungen des European Social Survey angestellt, um Veränderungen in Einstellungen und Verhalten abzubilden. Neben einer Literaturanalyse werden Ergebnisse einer qualitativen Erhebung unter österreichischen Kommunalpolitikerinnen präsentiert, die über ihre Erfahrungen und ihren Weg in die Politik erzählten.
Schlagwörter:gender; Repräsentation; Austria; international comparison; Gender; Österreich; woman; political participation; internationaler Vergleich; Biographie; representation; biography; local politics; politische Partizipation; Kommunalpolitik
SSOAR Kategorie:Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung, politische Willensbildung, politische Soziologie, politische Kultur
Faith-based organisations as welfare providers in Brazil: the conflict over gender in cases of domestic violence
Autor/in:
Beecheno, Kim
Quelle: Social Inclusion, 7 (2019) 2, S 14-23
Inhalt: What does the growth of faith-based organisations (FBOs) in social welfare mean for women’s rights and gender equality, especially within advocacy services for women experiencing domestic violence? Through empirical research within a Catholic-based organisation providing welfare services to abused women in São Paulo, Brazil, this article argues that FBOs can negatively impact the provision of women's rights when conservative and patriarchal views towards gender and women’s roles in society are maintained. A heavily matrifocal perspective, where women’s identity and subjectivity are mediated through their normative roles as wives, mothers and carers of the family, appears to offer little possibility of change for abused women, who are encouraged to forgive violent husbands and question their own behaviour. Mediation between couples is promoted, undermining women's rights upheld through Brazil's domestic violence law (Lei Maria da Penha no 11.340). Furthermore, the focus of family preservation, supported by a patriarchal state, means that violence against women (VAW) appears to be subordinated to a focus on family violence and violence against children. In this case, faith-based involvement in social welfare rejects the feminist analysis of VAW as a gender-based problem, viewing it as a personal issue rather than a collective or political issue, making women responsible for the violence in their lives.
Inhalt: Healthcare has long been a gendered enterprise, with women taking responsibility for maintaining health and engaging with service providers. Universal healthcare provision notwithstanding, women nonetheless undertake a range of healthcare work, on their own account and on behalf of others, which remains largely invisible. As part of a multi-method comparative European study that looked at access to healthcare in diverse neighbourhoods from the point of view of people's own health priorities, the concept of "healthcare bricolage" describes the process of mobilizing resources and overcoming constraints to meet particular health needs. Bricolage mediates between different kinds of resources to meet particular challenges and describing these processes makes visible that work which has been unseen, over-looked and naturalised, as part of a gendered caring role. Drawing on 160 semi-structured interviews and a survey with 1,755 residents of highly diverse neighbourhoods in Germany, UK, Sweden and Portugal, this article illustrates the gendered nature of healthcare bricolage. The complex variations of women's bricolage within and beyond the public healthcare system show how gendered caring roles intersect with migration status and social class in the context of particular healthcare systems.
Women's Safety and Public Spaces: Lessons from the Sabarmati Riverfront, India
Autor/in:
Mahadevia, Darshini; Lathia, Saumya
Quelle: Urban Planning, 4 (2019) 2, S 154-168
Inhalt: The Sustainable Development Goals 5 and 11, as well as the New Urban Agenda, emphasize gender equity and safe, resilient, and inclusive cities. The ‘safe cities’ idea for women includes their equal right to the city and public places within it, which includes their right to be mobile in the city at any time of the day, as well as their right to loiter in public spaces without any threats of harassment or sexual violence. These issues have gained importance in urban planning and design in contemporary India. This article is an assessment of how safe Ahmedabad city’s largest public space, the Sabarmati Riverfront, is for women. Ahmedabad, a city in western India, has long carried an image of a safe city for women. The Sabarmati Riverfront is over 22 km in length, 11 km on both sides of the river. This assessment is made through mapping of space use disaggregated by sex and age at four different time points throughout the day and of 100 women’s accounts of the experience of harassment on using the space. The article concludes with specific recommendations on proposed activities and space design along the riverfront to make these spaces safe for women throughout the day.
Schlagwörter:Indien; India; Gender; gender; woman; öffentlicher Raum; public space; Sicherheit; security; sexuelle Belästigung; sexual harassment; riverfront
SSOAR Kategorie:Raumplanung und Regionalforschung, Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung
Running as a woman (or man): a review of research on political communicators and gender stereotypes
Autor/in:
Winfrey, Kelly L.; Schnoebelen, James M.
Quelle: Review of Communication Research, 7 (2019) , S 109-138
Inhalt: Women gained the right to vote nearly 100 years ago, but it was not until 1980 that political scholars and practitioners began paying much attention to the role of women in elections. Twelve years later it was the so-called "Year of the Woman" in 1992 that sparked increased scholarly attention on women as political communicators. A record number of women, 117, ran for the U.S. Congress in 1992, but the number of women running and serving has been slow to increases since that time. One reason may be the unique challenges gender poses for female political communicators. Over three decades of research has proven gender stereotypes and expectations play a key role in how women (and men) communicate with voters. This review of research summarizes major findings and changes in gender and political communication research over the past three decades. Our focus is on communication by candidates and how gender shapes that communication. In all, 133 scholarly sources were reviewed; these sources included scholarly journals from related disciplines as well as books using quantitative, qualitative, and rhetorical methods. Our analysis demonstrates that gender stereotypes are still prevalent in American political campaigns, and women candidates must work to overcome the belief that they are not masculine enough to be political leaders. Additionally this review reveals two common strategies candidates use to negotiate gender stereotypes: feminine style and gender adaptiveness. We conclude that more research is needed to better understand how candidates navigate gender stereotypes in the 21st century, particularly in political debates and online communication.
Schlagwörter:gender studies; Politik; suffrage; political communication; communication research; Präsidentschaftswahl; Kampagne; politische Kommunikation; Wahlrecht; Wahl; campaign; gender; Stereotyp; Kommunikationsforschung; election; Gender; Kandidatur; stereotype; woman; Geschlechterforschung; politics; presidential election; candidacy; femininer Stil
SSOAR Kategorie:Kommunikationssoziologie, Sprachsoziologie, Soziolinguistik, Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung
Changing Gender Norms in Islam Between Reason and Revelation
Autor/in:
Bakhshizadeh, Marziyeh
Quelle: Opladen, 2018. 247 S
Inhalt: Women‘s movements in Islamic countries have had a long and arduous journey in their quest for the realization of human rights and genuine equality. The author examines whether discriminatory laws against women do in fact originate from Islam and, ultimately, if there is any interpretation of Islam compatible with gender equality. She investigates women’s rights in Iran since the 1979 Revolution from the perspectives of the main currents of Islamic thought, fundamentalists, reformists, and seculars, using a sociological explanation. The disputes about human reason and its relation to revelation can be traced in various Islamic schools of thought since the eighth century AD. However, the disputes have intensified since the eighteenth century when Muslims faced challenges to their faith and social order, brought about by modernity and enlightenment from the West. There were various reactions within the Islamic world. These reflections produced different interpretations of Islam that can be categorized based on their understanding of how compatible Islamic laws are with a specific time and space; as well as how they define the relationship between human reason and revelation. The three major interpretations of Islam within a spectrum are on the far right fundamentalists, in the middle reformists, and on the far left secularists; each having diverse views on the legitimacy and applicability of all Islamic law in modern times, and consequently having various perspectives on justice and gender equality. Accordingly, the author aims to investigate the different interpretations on Islam to find out which interpretations are compatible with the global norms of justice, and hence in accord to women’s rights and gender equality. In order to analyze the Islamic thought flows through a sociological perspective, a theoretical model is proposed based on theories of sociology of religion (Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann), Structuration theory (Anthony Giddens) and struggles related to universal norms of justice (Nancy Fraser, Axel Honneth, Seyla Benhabib). According to this theoretical model, there is a dialectical relationship between individual and structure. Religion, as a factor of structure, defines a framework of interaction for individual agents in personal and social life. Religion also offers a value and meaning system for human beings. On the other hand, human beings examine the patterns of interaction through 'reflexive monitoring,' and employing human reason and rational explanation. Therefore, human beings do not passively accept all patterns of interaction. In this model of dialectical relationship between individual and structure, justice means providing equal access to political, economic, and cultural resources in society and in the family. On this matter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women provide practical and universal criteria for the protection of human and women's rights, and ensure gender equality in society. Following the theoretical model, the research aims to reconstruct the main interpretations of Islam in three core issues of Islamic law, human reason, and women’s rights considering universal norms of justice.
Schlagwörter:Gender; gender; Islam; Islam; Menschenrechte; human rights; Diskriminierung; discrimination; religiöse Faktoren; religious factors; Gerechtigkeit; justice; Vernunft; reason; Gleichberechtigung; equality of rights; Gleichstellung; affirmative action; woman; Iran; Iran
SSOAR Kategorie:Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung, Religionssoziologie