Karen Ross,University of Liverpool

Women in Public LifeTy Hywel

22 November 2012Life

(circa 1993)

getting personal….

body of work……• 1994 – first newspaper analysis- “Bambi,Thumper and the

One in the Dress”• 1995 (2000, 2005, 2009) - GMMP• 1996 – began series of interviews with women

parliamentarians• Westminster (1996, 2001, 2006)• Australia (1998)• South Africa (1999)• Northern Ireland (2002, 2003, 2006)• New Zealand (2007, 2009, 2011, 2013 + men)

• 1997 (2001, 2005, 2010) – news analysis - Westminster elections: women and news

• 2000-2005 – interviews with women journalists• 2003 – news analysis + documentary - NI Assembly elections• 2011 –, FACEBOOK PROJECT, New Zealand

key themes from interviews

tabloidisation – bad news only

different rules for girls

pedestal effect: a long way to fall

gender stereotyping – words and pictures

marginalising women’s voices (absence)

undermining political authority

public/private : male/female : authority/frivolity

gender/ethnicity – the double whammy

domestic arrangements / sexuality

the Bridget Jones effect (body and style)

recurring themes from interviews

naming strategies…..

the tyranny of parenthoodThe treatment of William Hague and Julia Gillard reflects the importance attached to children as an accessory to office

CAPTION Australia's prime minister Julia Gillard waves at a baby while campaigning in Melbourne. Her credentials as a leader were questioned in 2007 by a Liberal senator who called her 'deliberately barren'. (Anne Perkins, Guardian, 3 September 2010)

Have Cameron's Cuties really got what it takes to transform politics?

By Amanda Platell

UPDATED: 09:02, 8 April 2010

They share a desire to make the world a better place - and for that they are to be applauded. The question is whether the good intentions of the political amateur will be enough in the rough and tumble of Westminster - especially in these dire economic times.It's not their fault, but many of them have been chosen for the wrong reason: to carry David Cameron's message that the Tories have changed. Not changed their principles, but their appearance.

Women are never the right age. We're too young, we're too old. We're too thin, we're too fat. We wear too much make-up, we don't wear enough. We're too flashy in our dress, we don't take enough care. There isn't a thing we can do that's right. (Dawn Primarolo, Labour, GB)

damned if you do…

Theresa May, Guardian, 15.11.12

spoonfeeding/press release can I ring you back/homework/saying no local vs. national contacts broken record getting a different angle always having something (relevant) to say taking care about media opportunities

taking control…..

sartorial choices?

Hello boys! Meet Caroline Flint: the flirtatious Minister who's turned Downing Street into her very own catwalk Created 10:44 PM on 14th May 2008 – Quentin Letts

Should Housing Minister Caroline Flint ever lose her Cabinet job - an event not outside the realm of possibility - she should become a catwalk model for the 'ageing glam' fashion world.

Ms Flint, 46 going on 23, has one of Westminster's most preening egos. Consider how many vain peacocks we have in Parliament and you will realise that's quite something.

CAPTION

Split decision: A cheeky

flash of thigh and the

scarlet lining of the now

familiar coat

Photoshoot for Grazia, April 2010

...there will always be the satirists......

Maxine McKew MPCanberra Times, 17 December 2007

….but women don’t have to give them ammunition..

…..or their cleavage

Mr Berlusconi speaks……

Weapons of Mass Destruction, (Daily Mail, 14.4.2008)

BUSTY Home Secretary Jacqui Smith yesterday admitted she may be showing off too much cleavage. The Sun, 11.2007

Different singer, same song……

why do we get what we get?

• senior staff (and owners) are (almost exclusively) men – “what’s the problem?”

• political journalists are mostly men – “what’s the problem?”

• sexist/sexy norms – no sense of humour (the double bluff of irony)

• ‘male’ ordered news agenda : mirror : power

(T – B) -Tony Gallagher (Telegraph); Alan Rusbridger (Guardian); Paul Dacre (Mail); Alan Edmunds (Western Mail)

take control of what you can……

media relationshipssocial mediawardrobe

pause…..

Recent work

Gender and the British General Election 2010: coverage of candidates

• Out of 377 articles across 11 newspapers across 4 weeks, 71% only mentioned men and 8% only mentioned women

• Of those articles, 19% were written by women, 72% by men and 9% written by mixed-sex teams

• Out of a total number of 799 mentions of women and men, 177 (22 %) were women, and of these, 36 (19%) were the Leaders’ wives.

• Most women who were mentioned were: PCs (43%), a Leader’s wife (19%), members of the Cabinet (13%) or a Government backbencher (10%).

• Of those mentioned, women were less likely to be quoted (40%) than men (60%).

• Sam Cam

• Julia Gillard story

• Public responses

......the good news... the public are more intelligent than the media....20/2012, top women, including 5 newbies this year!

16 SwitzerlandPresident Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf Jan. 1, 2012 - appointed

17 JamaicaPrime Minister Portia Simpson Miller

Jan. 5, 2012 - elected

18 MauritiusPresident Monique Ohsan-Bellepeau Mar. 31, 2012 succeeded

29 SerbiaPresident Slavica Djukic Dejanovic Apr. 4, 2012 - succeeded

20 MalawiPresident Joyce Banda Apr. 7, 2012 - succeeded