Women, Gender, and Politics

N03 - Gender and Media

Date: May 30 | Time: 10:30am to 12:00pm | Location: Classroom - CL 417 Room ID:15707

Chair/Président/Présidente : Shannon Sampert (University of Winnipeg)

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Brenda O'Neill (University of Calgary)

Gendered Stereotypes in News Coverage of Australian and Canadian Premiers: Linda Trimble (University of Alberta), Jennifer Curtin (University of Auckland), Angelia Wagner (University of Alberta), Meagan Auer (University of Alberta)
Abstract: The persistence of stereotype threat, the perceived lack of fit between women's capabilities and the qualities deemed necessary for effective leadership, serves as an obstinate barrier to women's representation in political leadership roles. Yet as more women occupy government leadership positions, the observed incongruity between the role and the actor decreases, diminishing the salience of rigid gender stereotypes and gender role beliefs. Our paper assesses two key elements of news-mediated stereotype threat, as captured by the "women take care and men take charge" binary: the personalization of political leaders through references to their family lives, bodies and gendered identities; and the invocation of gendered stereotypes about the effective performance of political leadership. To gather a robust sample of women government leaders, we turn to the subnational level of government in Australia and Canada, where a total of 15 women have served as premier of a state (Australia) or province (Canada). We focus on reporting offered during the first week in the premier's office, comparing news coverage of the most recently elected women premiers, 5 in Australia and 5 in Canada, with coverage of their male predecessors. The paper tests the proposition that the presence of women in power attenuates stereotype threat, resulting in coverage that is less likely to "make it personal" and more likely to disrupt the association of leadership competencies with men and masculinity.

'Samson' and the 'Gold Digger': Comparing Discourses of Class, gender, and Race in Canadian Press Coverage of Two Recent Femicides: Bailey Gerrits (Queen's University)
Abstract: Two recent cases of one type of gendered violence – femicide – offer insight into how media enterprises in Canada interweave discourses that support a neoliberal, individualized notion of public safety. A poor white man is on trial for killing three women, all former partners, on September 22, 2015 while out on bail in rural Canada. Another man, this time non-white and a neurosurgeon, is on trial for killing his also-doctor wife late November 2016 in Canada’s largest urban centre. Both men have documented violent pasts and both cases alit local and national Canadian news coverage, yet the differences in class, respectability, and race are also central to the stories. Comparing the press coverage of these two cases of femicide offer an important opportunity to deeply consider Canadian discourses of gender, racialization, ruralness/urbaness, and class. Interweaving textual content and discourse analysis with interviews with the reporters that wrote the stories and news editors that shepherded the news content about the men on trial and the murdered women, this paper offers insight into the often-obscured language of class underpinning the coverage gendered violence and the persistence of victim-blaming, racialization, and individualization of one of Canada’s pressing social problems – gendered violence.

Gender, Humor and Visual Stereotypes in Alberta Political Cartoons: Wilissa Reist (University of Alberta), Linda Trimble (University of Alberta)
Abstract: Humour is regularly used to normalize gendered beliefs and values, yet while research on gendered mediation has grown significantly in the last twenty years, little attention has been paid to the role of humour in facilitating gender-based discussions about political leadership. This paper considers the ways in which political humour conveys gendered meanings in Alberta political cartoons. It assesses over 200 editorial cartoons published in the Alberta-based newspapers The Edmonton Journal, The Edmonton Sun, The Calgary Herald and The Calgary Sun that profiled current and past Alberta premiers Rachel Notley, Alison Redford, Ed Stelmach and Jim Prentice during their first eight months in office. The following question guided this research project: how is humour used as a form of political commentary to shape the gendered construction of men and women in political cartoons? Based on content and discourse analysis of all elements of the cartoons, we argue that humour works to normalize the presence of men in politics while questioning women’s legitimacy as political leaders. For instance, visual stereotypes and jokes situate the women premiers, Redford and Notley, as antagonists to the large, angry Alberta public (drawn as male). In contrast, humour directed at Prentice and Stelmach focuses largely on policy issues and party politics. We argue that the gendered discourses evident in traditional media sources such as newspapers also circulate within the types of jokes and critiques used by cartoonists to portray Alberta political leaders.