Title: Visible or invisible
1Fondazione G. Brodolini
Visible or invisible? The image of women
politicians in the media Mass media and the
(re)distribution of power
Francesca Molfino Fondazione Brodolini, Rome,
Italy
with the collaboration of Annamaria
Lorusso, Monica Luongo, Daniela Gambino, Laura
Clarke
2Fondazione G. Brodolini
The image of women politicians in the media
- Data few women in political institutions
- The role of the media do they help or hinder?
- Gender stereotypes
- Interviews with female politicians and
journalists - Analysis of TV programmes in the pre-electoral
period (European elections 2004) - Conclusions entering and exiting stereotypes
3(No Transcript)
4Women/Men in the European Parliament
222
166
460
510
In 1999 women were at 31, in 2004 at 30,3
5 - Female presence
- of italian deputies
- in the
- European Parliament
Italian Women European Members
of Parliament
Italy EU
6ITALY
7Fondazione G. Brodolini
The image of women politicians in the media
- Data few women in political institutions
- The role of the media do they help or hinder?
- Gender stereotypes
- Interviews with female politicians and
journalists - Analysis of TV programmes in the pre-electoral
period (European elections 2004) - Conclusions entering and exiting stereotypes
8Gender stereotypes
A child recognises itself as male or female in
the first eighteen months of life the core
of gender identity is created within three years
of age.
- Stereotype a clear, simplified representation
of reality through categorical generalizations.
The behavioural and psychological characteristics
of men and women (or their sexual roles) are
interpreted through a set of rigid and fixed
statements and repeated emotional reactions.
- Over the centuries gender stereotypes have
produced a kind of internal colonialization
one of the most pervasive ideologies in all
cultures. For both men and women, the ideal image
for men and women has prevalently male
connotations.
- Gender stereotypes are more or less the same
around the world (in 25 countries)
A woman is sentimental, submissive,
affectionate, superstitious, dreamer, sensitive,
feminine, discursive, patient. A man is
strong, dominant, independent, masculine, robust,
aggressive, severe, audacious, enterprising,
ambitious.
- There are few variants or peculiarities
among gender stereotypes, linked to emotional
rather than economic and cultural variables
for example in Italy (and in Catholic countries)
more positive meaning associated to female
stereotypes .
9Fondazione G. Brodolini
The image of women politicians in the media
- Data few women in political institutions
- The role of the media do they help or hinder?
- Gender stereotypes
- Interviews with female politicians and
journalists - Analysis of tv programmes in the pre-electoral
period (European elections 2004) - Conclusions entering and exiting stereotypes
10The interviews
The sample women politicians and journalists
- 14 women holding a political position
- 7 members of the national parliament
- 6 members of the European parliament
- 1 city councillor (Rome)
- (7 of these participated in the TV programmes
that we analysed)
- 9 women working in the media
- 4 experts in the field of communication
- 5 journalists
Their age was always over 40.
11The interviews
The issues
-
- Politics the low representation of women, the
potential conflict between different roles, the
relationship with power, the political
environment.
- Communication does television help or hinder
the access of women to decision making positions?
- What are the differences in the representation
of women politicians in television programmes
with respect to men ?
- What awareness of gender issues is there in the
field of communication?
- What are the proposals for rebalancing the
representation ?
12The interviews some answers
- For most women politicians, the main dimension
of politics is an overwhelming passion the
emphasis is on ideals.
- For the low female presence, women politicians
and journalists blame political organisations,
above all political parties and their cooptation
rules.
- Another determining factor is the difficulty in
managing different areas of life work,
family, political-social work.
- A profound, repeated misevaluation of political
environment political parties. These are
suffocating places self-preserving, excluding,
ethically poor, where personality and management
of pure power predominate.
- Women find it hard to enter in direct conflict
with men they say they wish to avoid conflict,
however they do admit rivalry between colleagues
of both sexes, and difficulty in team working
with other women.
- The desire for power, or the fight for it, is
not felt as a central point satis-faction is
obtained from governing leaders do not seem to
be questioned.
- To rebalance representation, it is necessary to
use all means available to the politicians
from legislation to quotas, from changing the
parties statutes, to positive actions (training
and cultural) to support women.
13The interviews
Some more answers about the media
- There is general agreement on the fact that the
media re-proposes traditional and stereotyped
images of women. Traditional female
characteristics are emphasized to present the
woman politician as out of place or
segregate her to social issues.
- There is noticeable concern regarding TV, whose
paradoxical effect can falsify or distort ones
image, or reveal uncontrolled truths. TV is
considered important to make the politicians
real, to make them exist.
- Women politicians who had participated in TV
programmes
- Most of them considered the messages sent from
their own image and their non-verbal behaviour
of little importance. - All concentrated on their knowledge (being
the first in the class), their skills, their
being good politicians, and their political
activities. - Not all of them were aware of possible
horizontal segregation.
14Fondazione G. Brodolini
The image of women politicians in the media
- Data few women in political institutions
- The role of the media do they help or hinder?
- Gender stereotypes
- Interviews with female politicians and
journalists - Analysis of TV programmes in the pre-electoral
period (European elections 2004) - Conclusions entering and exiting stereotypes
15Analysis of TV programmes
- The programmes
- Five among the main talk shows in public and
private Italian TV were choosed Porta a porta,
Otto e mezzo, Ballarò, La zona rossa,
Excalibur. 11 episodes with women politicians
partecipating were monitored.
- The methodology
- Qualitative. Semiotic analysis of the text
- The hypothesis
- Apart from the real under representation of women
politicians, is there a noticeable
difference in their presentation style with
respect to men?
- The results
- The long-standing extraneity of women to
politics. Women presents themselves as subjects
of passion and knowledge and not of
action.With few exceptions, they are only
sensitive spokeswomen. -
16Fondazione G. Brodolini
The image of women politicians in the media
- Data few women in political institutions
- The role of the media do they help or hinder?
- Gender stereotypes
- Interviews with female politicians and
journalists - Analysis of TV programmes in the pre-electoral
period (European elections 2004) - Conclusions entering and exiting stereotypes
17Conclusions
- Because of their cognitive, emotional,
identifying function and of their strong early
impact on the human psyche, gender stereotypes
persist, and are always instantly
reactivated, even if unconsciously.
- There is a paradoxical overlapping between women
and TV women politicians dont easily manage
their images in TV. They present themselves on
the side, outside (or above) the focus of the
political action. Television present them as
representatives or promoters of ideologies or
politics, rather than as new subjects.
- Ambivalence and difficulty for women politicians
to interact with their body, to give meaning to
their presence, without fear of being drawn back
into idealised or commercialised female roles.
- In general, what is seen on television is
filtered by a male view an easy division of
tasks and power hierarchy between men and women.
However, when the male view does not find
complicity from the female politician, new spaces
can be created.
- Eccentric examples exist women who manage to
detach themselves from stereotypes (by
recognising them, exiting them and going back to
them).
18Conclusions
Entering and exiting stereotypes how ?
- Mixing conflicting elements of the new and
traditional female figure instinctive, maternal,
seductive, aggressive, autonomous.
- Shifting the female body-presence outside the
usual context.
- Avoiding gender generalisations that can become
stereotypes.
The presence of some strong and authoritative
women in TV does not automatically mean that
gender stereotypes have disappeared. But new
realities have been created alongside old ones,
as the representation of women on Italian
television clearly demonstrates.
19(No Transcript)
20ALBERTO HERAS (VOGUE)
21(No Transcript)