ABSTRACT

Women politicians have long faced a gendered media environment, where their novelty, potential (in)competence, family, and appearance have been over-emphasized in comparison to men. Much of this literature has focused on politicians running for office and women who hold legislative office. Little research investigates gendered news media presentations of women as heads of government. While the literature predicts that women heads of government should experience gendered differences in news coverage, there is also good reason to expect that news about government operations should not vary based on the gender of the government leader. Using their first year of online news coverage (N = 11,675), we build a series of dictionaries and use automated content analysis to assess how frequently heads of government’s uniqueness, gender, family, appearance, sexual orientation, character, and competence are presented. We also assess the tone of news about each head of government. Results show that gendered coverage exists for women heads of government in potentially surprising ways. Fewer new stories are written about them, on average, than men. Women’s coverage features more feminine and masculine gendered identifiers, as well as more coverage about their clothing. We find little evidence for increased personalization, and women’s character and competence are presented more positively than men’s. Though blunt, this analysis shows that news about heads of government remains gendered.

摘要

长期以来，女性政治家一直面临着性别化的媒体环境，与男性相比，她们的新颖性、潜在（不）能力、家庭和外表都被过分强调。这些文献中的大部分内容都集中在竞选公职的政治家和担任立法职务的女性。很少有研究调查将女性作为政府首脑的性别化新闻媒体报道。虽然文献预测女性政府首脑在新闻报道中应该经历性别差异，但也有充分的理由期望关于政府运作的新闻不应因政府领导人的性别而异。利用他们第一年的在线新闻报道（N = 11,675），我们构建了一系列词典并使用自动内容分析来评估政府首脑的独特性、性别、家庭、外表、性取向、性格和能力被呈现出来。我们还评估有关每个政府首脑的新闻基调。结果表明，女性政府首脑的性别覆盖可能以令人惊讶的方式存在。平均而言，关于她们的新故事比男性少。女性报道的特点是更多女性化和男性化的性别标识符，以及更多关于她们的服装的报道。我们几乎没有发现个性化增加的证据，而且女性的性格和能力比男性更积极。尽管直截了当，但这一分析表明，有关政府首脑的新闻仍然存在性别差异。结果表明，女性政府首脑的性别覆盖可能以令人惊讶的方式存在。平均而言，关于她们的新故事比男性少。女性报道的特点是更多女性化和男性化的性别标识符，以及更多关于她们的服装的报道。我们几乎没有发现个性化增加的证据，而且女性的性格和能力比男性更积极。尽管直截了当，但这一分析表明，有关政府首脑的新闻仍然存在性别差异。结果表明，女性政府首脑的性别覆盖可能以令人惊讶的方式存在。平均而言，关于她们的新故事比男性少。女性报道的特点是更多女性化和男性化的性别标识符，以及更多关于她们的服装的报道。我们几乎没有发现个性化增加的证据，而且女性的性格和能力比男性更积极。尽管直截了当，但这一分析表明，有关政府首脑的新闻仍然存在性别差异。