Women Political Leaders and the Media

by Campus, Donatella

• ISBN13: 9780230285286
• ISBN10: 0230285287
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-01-25
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

This book looks at how media coverage reinforces gender stereotyping and influence the public evaluations of women leaders' candidacies and performance. Through the analysis of several examples and experiences illustrating specific issues, like the double bind; the trivialization effect and personal politics, readers will be introduced to the controversial yet familiar question of why there are so few women in power and why the glass ceiling seems still so difficult to break.The book also analyzes the consequences of recent developments in political communication for female leadership. Processes such as the popularization and the personalization of politics as well as the advent of the new media are changing the nature and the scope of leadership in contemporary democracies. The book discusses some of the implications of such a complex framework in terms of possible changes in the style of female political leadership.

Author Biography

Donatella Campus is Professor of Political Science at the University of Bologna, Italy.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Gender and Models of Leadership
Power: A Male Concept?
The Female Style of Leadership
Transformational Leadership
The Media and Representation of Leadership
The Mediatization and Personalization of Politics
Popular Culture and Leadership
New Media, New Leaders?
Media Coverage of Women Leaders
Visibility: Quantity and Quality of Coverage of Women Leaders
Taking Care and Cleaning Up: Lights and Shadows of the Positive Stereotypes
Viability and Horse Race: Are the Media Educating Future Female Leaders?
The Double Bind
The Nature of the Femininity-Competence Double Bind
Iron Ladies and Mothers of the Nation
When Women Leaders Are Too Feminine: The Case of Ségolène Royal
When Women Leaders Are Too Strong: The Case of Hillary Clinton
The Appearance of Power
Women Leaders and the Personal Factor
The Dress Code of Women Leaders
Power and Seduction
The Family Factor
The Good Wife and the Good Mother
Going Personal for Women Leaders
Dynastic Politics: When Daughters and Wives Enter Politics
Conclusion: In Search of a New Style of Political Leadership
The Crisis of Traditional Democratic Leadership
Time for Degendering Leadership
Media as Agents of Transformation
References