Hostname: page-component-77f85d65b8-8v9h9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-04-17T17:13:43.797Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Representations of Political Leadership Qualities in News Coverage of Australian and Canadian Government Leaders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 May 2021

Angelia Wagner Open the ORCID record for Angelia Wagner [Opens in a new window] ,
Linda Trimble Open the ORCID record for Linda Trimble [Opens in a new window] ,
Jennifer Curtin Open the ORCID record for Jennifer Curtin [Opens in a new window] ,
Meagan Auer  and
V. K. G. Woodman
Angelia Wagner
Affiliation:
University of Alberta
Linda Trimble
Affiliation:
University of Alberta
Jennifer Curtin
Affiliation:
University of Auckland
Meagan Auer
Affiliation:
University of Alberta
V. K. G. Woodman
Affiliation:
University of Auckland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

How do the media depict the leadership abilities of government leaders, and in what ways are these depictions gendered? Does the focus of leadership evaluations change over time, reflecting the increased presence of women in top leadership roles? To answer these questions, we examined news coverage of 22 subnational government leaders in Australia and Canada, countries in which a significant number of women have achieved the premiership at the state or provincial level since 2007. Analysis demonstrates that newly elected women and men leaders receive approximately the same number of leadership evaluations. Women are assessed based on the same criteria as men. All subnational political leaders are expected to be competent, intelligent, and levelheaded. That journalists prioritize experience and strength while downplaying honesty and compassion indicates a continued emphasis on “masculine” leadership norms in politics. Yet evaluations of new premiers have emphasized the traditionally “feminine” trait of collaboration as key to effective leadership and, over time, have given more attention to likability and emotions when covering male premiers. As our analysis reveals, media conceptualizations of political leadership competencies are slowly expanding in ways that make it easier for women to be seen as effective political leaders.

Keywords

Womenleadership abilitiesgendered mediationAustraliaCanada

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , September 2022 , pp. 798 - 829
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Women, Gender, and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

This research was supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada Partnership Development Grant [grant no. 890-2016-0003].

References

REFERENCES

Aaldering, Loes, and Van Der Pas, Daphne Joanna. 2020. “Political Leadership in the Media: Gender Bias in Leader Stereotypes during Campaign and Routine Times.” British Journal of Political Science 50 (3): 911–31. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123417000795.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aaldering, Loes, and Vliegenthart, Rens. 2016. “Political Leaders and the Media: Can We Measure Political Leadership Images in Newspapers Using Computer-Assisted Content Analysis?” Quality and Quantity 50 (5): 1871–1905. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-015-0242-9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Aldrich, Andrea S. and Lotito, Nicholas J.. 2020. “Pandemic Performance: Women Leaders in the COVID-19 Crisis.” Politics & Gender 16 (4): 960–67. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X20000549.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Auer, Meagan, Trimble, Linda, Curtin, Jennifer, Wagner, Angelia, and Woodman, V. K. G.. 2020. “Invoking the Idealized Family to Assess Political Leadership and Legitimacy: News Coverage of Australian and Canadian Premiers.” Feminist Media Studies. Published online June 7. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2020.1790627.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banwart, Mary Christine. 2010. “Gender and Candidate Communication: Effects of Stereotypes in the 2008 Election.” American Behavioral Scientist 54 (3): 265–83. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764210381702.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beail, Linda, and Longworth, Rhonda Kinney. 2013. Framing Sarah Palin: Pit Bulls, Puritans, and Politics. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Brooks, Deborah Jordan. 2013. He Runs, She Runs: Why Gender Stereotypes Do Not Harm Women Candidates. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Cantrell, Tania H., and Bachmann, Ingrid. 2008. “Who Is the Lady in the Window? A Comparison of International and National Press Coverage of First Female Government Heads.” Journalism Studies 9 (3): 429–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616700801999253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cauterucci, Christina. 2019. “Attitude Problem: For Voters and Pundits, Worrying about Women's Likability Is a Nice Way to Express A Nasty Bias.” Slate, November 21. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/11/elizabeth-warren-likable-presidential-candidate.html (accessed December 17, 2020).Google Scholar
Chappell, Louise. 2002. Gendering Government: Feminist Engagement with the State in Australia and Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, Jacob. 1960. “A Coefficient of Agreement for Nominal Scales.” Educational and Psychological Measurement 20 (1): 37–46. https://doi.org/10.1177/001316446002000104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Council on Foreign Relations. 2020. “Women's Power Index.” https://www.cfr.org/article/womens-power-index#chapter-title-0-2 (accessed July 28, 2020).Google Scholar
Crawford, Jarret T., Jussim, Lee, Madon, Stephanie, Cain, Thomas R., and Stevens, Sean T.. 2011. “The Use of Stereotypes and Individuating Information in Political Person Perception.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 37 (4): 529–42. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167211399473.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Curtin, Jennifer. 2015. “The Prime Ministership of Julia Gillard.” Australian Journal of Political Science 50 (1): 190–204. https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2015.1010481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duerst-Lahti, Georgia. 2010. “The Consequences of Gender for Women's Political Leadership.” In Gender and Women's Leadership: A Reference Handbook, vol. 1, ed. O'Connor, Karen. Los Angeles: Sage, 20–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duerst-Lahti, Georgia, and Kelly, Rita Mae. 1995. “On Governance, Leadership, and Gender.” In Gender Power, Leadership, and Governance, eds. Duerst-Lahti, Georgia and Kelly, Rita Mae. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 11–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eagly, Alice H., and Carli, Linda L.. 2007. “Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership.” Harvard Business Review 85 (9): 62–71. https://hbr.org/2007/09/women-and-the-labyrinth-of-leadership.Google ScholarPubMed
Eagly, Alice H., Nater, Christa, Miller, David I., Kaufmann, Michèle, and Sczesny, Sabine. 2020. “Gender Stereotypes Have Changed: A Cross-Temporal Meta-Analysis of U.S. Public Opinion Polls from 1946 to 2018.” American Psychologist 75 (3): 301–15. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000494.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ejaz, Khadija. 2018. “Good Manners and High Heels: Newspaper Coverage of South Carolina's First Female Governor.” Journal of Gender Studies 27 (7): 802–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2017.1316247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Falk, Erika. 2010. Women for President: Media Bias in Eight Campaigns. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Freelon, Deen. 2010. “ReCal: Intercoder Reliability Calculation as a Web Service.” International Journal of Internet Science 5 (1): 20–33.Google Scholar
Gerrits, Bailey, Trimble, Linda, Wagner, Angelia, Raphael, Daisy, and Sampert, Shannon. 2017. “Political Battlefield: Aggressive Metaphors, Gender and Power in News Coverage of Conservative Party of Canada Leadership Contests.” Feminist Media Studies 17 (6): 1088–1103. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2017.1315734.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gidengil, Elisabeth, and Everitt, Joanna. 2000. “Filtering the Female: Television News Coverage of the 1993 Canadian Leaders’ Debates.” Women & Politics 21 (4): 105–31. https://doi.org/10.1300/J014v21n04_04.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gidengil, Elisabeth, and Everitt, Joanna. 2002. “Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't: Television News Coverage of Female Party Leaders in the 1993 Federal Election.” In Political Parties, Representation and Electoral Democracy in Canada, ed. Cross, William. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press, 223–37.Google Scholar
Gidengil, Elisabeth, and Everitt, Joanna. 2003a. “Conventional Coverage/Unconventional Politicians: Gender and Media Coverage of Canadian Leaders’ Debates, 1993, 1997, 2000.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 36 (3): 559–77. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008423903778767.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gidengil, Elisabeth, and Everitt, Joanna. 2003b. “Talking Tough: Gender and Reported Speech in Campaign News Coverage.” Political Communication 20 (3): 209–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584600390218869.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harmer, Emily, Savigny, Heather, and Ward, Orlanda. 2017. “‘Are You Tough Enough?’ Performing Gender in the UK Leadership Debates 2015.” Media, Culture and Society 39 (7): 960–75. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443716682074.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, Danny and Lawless, Jennifer L.. 2015. “A Non-Gendered Lens? Media, Voters, and Female Candidates in Contemporary Congressional Elections.” Perspectives on Politics 13 (1): 95–118. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592714003156CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, Danny and Lawless, Jennifer L.. 2016. Women on the Run: Gender, Media, and Political Campaigns in a Polarized Era. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heldman, Caroline, Carroll, Susan J., and Olson, Stephanie. 2005. “‘She Brought Only a Skirt’: Print Media Coverage of Elizabeth Dole's Bid for the Republican Presidential Nomination.” Political Communication 22 (3): 315–35. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584600591006564.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heldman, Caroline, Conroy, Meredith, and Ackerman, Alissa R.. 2018. Sex and Gender in the 2016 Presidential Election. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.Google Scholar
Henley, John, and Roy, Eleanor Ainge. 2020. “Are Female Leaders More Successful at Managing the Coronavirus Crisis?” The Guardian, April 25. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/25/why-do-female-leaders-seem-to-be-more-successful-at-managing-the-coronavirus-crisis (accessed July 15, 2020).Google Scholar
Hobbs, Mitchell, and Owen, Stephen. 2016. “Stifling Dissent: The Murdoch Press and Its Campaigns against Its ‘Critics.’” Communication Research and Practice 2 (2): 137–58. https://doi.org/10.1080/22041451.2016.1185925.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holland, Jack, and Wright, Katherine A. M.. 2017. “The Double Delegitimisation of Julia Gillard: Gender, the Media and Australian Political Culture.” Australian Journal of Politics and History 63 (4): 588–602. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajph.12405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Carol. 2013. “From Obama to Abbott: Gender Identity and the Politics of Emotion.” Australian Feminist Studies 28 (75): 14–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/08164649.2012.759311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Carol. 2020. “Gender, Emotion and Political Discourse: Masculinity, Femininity and Populism.” In The Rhetoric of Political Leadership: Logic and Emotion in Public Discourse, ed. Feldman, Ofer. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 16–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahn, Kim Fridkin, and Goldenberg, Edie N.. 1991. “Women Candidates in the News: An Examination of Gender Differences in U.S. Senate Campaign Coverage.” Public Opinion Quarterly 55 (2): 180–99. https://doi.org/10.1086/269251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, Yonghwan. 2012. “Politics of Representation in the Digital Media Environment: Presentation of the Female Candidate between News Coverage and the Website in the 2007 Korean Presidential Primary.” Asian Journal of Communication 22 (6): 601–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/01292986.2012.662513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kinder, Donald R., Peters, Mark D., Abelson, Robert P., and Fiske, Susan T.. 1980. “Presidential prototypes.” Political Behavior 2 (4): 315–37. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00990172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koch, Tony. 2019. “For 30 Years I Worked for Newscorp Papers. Now All I See Is Shameful Bias.” The Guardian, May 19. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/09/for-30-years-i-worked-for-news-corp-papers-now-all-i-see-is-shameful-bias (accessed February 28, 2021).Google Scholar
Langer, Ana Inés. 2010. “The Politicization of Private Persona: Exceptional Leaders or the New Rule? The Case of the United Kingdom and the Blair Effect.” International Journal of Press/Politics 15 (1): 60–76. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161209351003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence, Regina G. 2000. “Game-Framing the Issues: Tracking the Strategy Frame in Public Policy News.” Political Communication 17 (2): 93–114. https://doi.org/10.1080/105846000198422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meeks, Lindsey. 2012. “Is She ‘Man Enough’? Women Candidates, Executive Political Offices, and News Coverage.” Journal of Communication 62 (1): 175–93. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2011.01621.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murray, Rainbow. 2010. “Introduction: Gender Stereotypes and Media Coverage of Women Candidates.” In Cracking the Highest Glass Ceiling: A Global Comparison of Women's Campaigns for Executive Office, ed. Murray, Rainbow. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 3–27.Google Scholar
Paine, Hannah, and Graham, Ben. 2019. “Moment Bob Hawke's Broke Down in Tears during Powerful 1984 Press Conference.” News.com.au, May 19. https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/bob-hawke-dead-at-89-remembering-his-classic-1983-americas-cup-speech/news-story/63b884ad115d5c5239c0fd7dc4292baf (accessed July 28, 2020).Google Scholar
Politics & Gender. 2020. “Short Paper Series on Gender, Politics, and the Global Pandemic.” 16 (4): 933–1157. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X20000732.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, Gary N., and Butterfield, D. Anthony. 2015. “Correspondence between Self- and Good-Manager Descriptions: Examining Stability and Change over Four Decades.” Journal of Management 41 (6): 1745–73. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206312463939.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prentice, Deborah A., and Carranza, Erica. 2002. “What Women and Men Should Be, Shouldn't Be, Are Allowed to Be, and Don't Have to Be: The Contents of Prescriptive Gender Stereotypes.” Psychology of Women Quarterly 26 (4): 269–81. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-6402.t01-1-00066.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sampert, Shannon, and Trimble, Linda. 2003. “‘Wham, Bam, No Thank You Ma'am’: Gender and the Game Frame in National Newspaper Coverage of Election 2000.” In Women and Electoral Politics in Canada, eds. Tremblay, Manon and Trimble, Linda. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press, 211–26.Google Scholar
Sampert, Shannon, Trimble, Linda, Wagner, Angelia, and Gerrits, Bailey. 2014. “Jumping the Shark: Mediatization of Canadian Party Leadership Contests, 1975–2012.” Journalism Practice 8 (3): 279–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2014.889444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, Monica C., and Bos, Angela L.. 2014. “Measuring Stereotypes of Female Politicians.” Political Psychology 35 (2): 245–66. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12040.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaw, Marc E., and Watson, Elwood. 2011. “Obama's Masculinities: A Landscape of Essential Contradictions.” In Performing American Masculinities: The 21st Century Man in Popular Culture, eds. Watson, Elwood and Shaw, Marc E.. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 134–52.Google Scholar
Smith, Jessica C. 2020. “Where Are the Women? Descriptive Representation and COVID-19 in UK Daily Press Briefings.” Politics & Gender 16 (4): 991–1000. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X20000513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sreberny-Mohammadi, Annabelle and Ross, Karen. 1996. “Women MPs and the Media: Representing the Body Politic.” Parliamentary Affairs 49 (1): 103–15. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.pa.a028661.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taras, David. 1999. Power and Betrayal in the Canadian Media. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press.Google Scholar
Thomas, Melanee, Harell, Allison, Rijkhoff, Sanne A. M., and Gosselin, Tania. 2020. “Gendered News Coverage and Women as Heads of Government.” Political Communication. Published online September 27. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2020.1784326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tiffen, Rodney. 2014. “The Press.” In The Media and Communication in Australia, eds. Cunningham, Stuart and Turnbull, Sue. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 95–110.Google Scholar
Tolley, Erin. 2016. Framed: Media and the Coverage of Race in Canadian Politics. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Trent, Judith S., Short-Thompson, Cady, Mongeau, Paul A., Nusz, Andrew K., and Trent, Jimmie D.. 2001. “Image, Media Bias, and Voter Characteristics: The Ideal Candidate from 1988–2000.” American Behavioral Scientist 44 (12): 2101–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027640121958519.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trimble, Linda. 2017. Ms. Prime Minister: Gender, Media, and Leadership. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trimble, Linda, Wagner, Angelia, Sampert, Shannon, Raphael, Daisy, and Gerrits, Bailey. 2013. “Is It Personal? Gendered Mediation in Newspaper Coverage of Canadian National Party Leadership Contests, 1975–2012.” International Journal of Press/Politics 18 (4): 462–81. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161213495455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UN Women. 2019. “Facts and Figures: Leadership and Political Participation.” http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/leadership-and-political-participation/facts-and-figures (accessed July 28, 2019).Google Scholar
Van der Pas, Daphne, and Aaldering, Loes. 2020. “Gender Differences in Political Media Coverage: A Meta-Analysis.” Journal of Communication 70 (1): 114–43. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqz046.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vidal Correa, Fernanda. 2020. “Presidential Elections in Mexico: Media Coverage of the Josefina Vazquez Mota Campaign.” Women's Studies 49 (5): 533–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/00497878.2020.1772791.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wagner, Angelia, and Everitt, Joanna, 2019. “Introduction: Gendered Identities and Political Communication.” In Gendered Mediation: Identity and Image Making in Canadian Politics, eds. Wagner, Angelia and Everitt, Joanna. Vancouver: UBC Press, 3–23.Google Scholar
Wagner, Angelia, Trimble, Linda, and Sampert, Shannon. 2019. “One Smart Politician: Gendered Mediation Discourses of Political Leadership in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 52 (1): 141–62. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008423918000471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, Blair E. 2017. “A Gendered Media Analysis of the Prime Ministerial Ascension of Gillard and Turnbull: He's ‘Taken Back the Reins’ and She's ‘a Backstabbing’ Murderer.” Australian Journal of Political Science 52 (4): 550–64. https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2017.1374347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, Blair E. 2020. “A Tale of Two Women: A Comparative Gendered Media Analysis of UK Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May.” Parliamentary Affairs. Published online April 26. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsaa008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, Katharine A. M., and Holland, Jack. 2014. “Leadership and the Media: Gendered Framings of Julia Gillard's ‘Sexism and Misogyny’ Speech.” Australian Journal of Political Science 49 (3): 455–68. https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2014.929089.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Wagner et al. supplementary material

Wagner et al. supplementary material

Download Wagner et al. supplementary material(File)
File 18.8 KB