Breaking with stereotypes: how the Dutch press cover female politicians leading traditionally male ministries Student: Kelsey Bouwmeester Student ID: 10592962 Master Thesis Graduate School of Communication Master's program Communication Science: Political Communication University of Amsterdam Supervisor: Judith Möller Date: 29-06-2018 Wordcount: 7947 Summary Underrepresentation of females in political positions is often in part ascribed to a structural gender bias in the media: female politicians are found to be portrayed in different, often less favorable, ways in the media than their male colleagues. Consequently, citizens are discouraged from voting for women and women are deterred from running for high political posts. This disadvantageous media attention is said to be the result of media logic; a theory that describes how journalists, in addition to institutional and technological factors, are influenced by personal values and deeply rooted stereotypes when determining what stories to pass through the gates and how to cover them. By entering the ‘masculine’ world of politics, female politicians break with stereotypes commonly held by journalists, and consequently receive less (favorable) media attention. Following this rationale, female politicians working in traditionally masculine workfields, like defense or economic affairs, break with two stereotypes and possibly open themselves up to even more disadvantageous media coverage. A content analysis of 900 Dutch newspaper articles published from 1993-2018 of 30 ministers in 4 (gendered) workfields tests this line of reasoning, but finds no significant connection between amount and type of press coverage in terms of visibility, tone and substantiality of media coverage and the sex and type of workfield of Dutch ministers. Keywords: media gender bias, sex, gendered workfields, media coverage 1 Introduction As of June 2016, still only 22.8 percent of all national parliamentarians around the world are women (UN Women, 2017). Some authors ascribe this underrepresentation of females in political positions in part to a structural gender bias in the media (Lawless, 2009); female politicians are said to be portrayed in different, often less favorable, ways in the media than their male colleagues, which discourages citizens form voting for women and deter women from running for high political posts (Wasburn & Wasburn, 2011, p.1028). This study researches this phenomenon in a Dutch context and adds an important new angle by researching the possible role of the gendered fields politicians work in. By concentrating on newspaper coverage of male and female politicians in different workfields, focusing on education-culture and science, and public health- well-being and sports as stereotypical female workfields, and defense, and economic affairs as stereotypical male workfields, this research aims to answer the question: To what extent is the amount and type of press coverage in Dutch newspapers of male and female political leaders connected to their (gendered) workfields? Extant research into a gender bias in the media shows that women candidates receive less attention than their male colleagues (Kahn & Goldenberg, 1991 ; Kahn, 1994; Lühiste & Banducci, 2016; Vos, 2013), receive more negative coverage than males (Kahn & Goldenberg, 1991; Kahn, 1994, ; Heldman, Carroll & Olson, 2005; Miller, Peake & Boulton, 2010) and receive coverage that is less often about substantive issues and more often personalized, mentioning their sex, family roles and appearance (Robertson, Conley, Szymczynska & Thompson, 2002; Wasburn & Wasburn, 2011; Aday & Devitt, 2001). Lastly, ''to the extent that their issue positions are discussed, they will concern topics defined in American political culture 2 as 'women's issues' such as abortion, childcare, education and the environment, rather than 'men's issues' such as the economy, national security and military affairs'' (Wasburn & Wasburn, 2011, p.1028). These differences in media coverage are often explained by the theory of media logic which describes how journalists make editorial decisions based on their own values and deeply rooted stereotypes (Lühiste & Banducci, 2016, p.226). One of these stereotypes that is commonly held by journalists is that politics is a masculine job and that ''what is means to be a ''women'' does not correspond well with expectations about what it means to be ''president'''' (Heldman et al., 2005, p.316). So, when women do run for high political posts, they break with that stereotype and their perceived role in society, with disadvantageous media attention as a consequence (Bystrom, Robertson, Banwart, 2001). Interestingly, over the past few years, more and more women have become the political leaders of political departments that are culturally viewed as 'masculine', for example by being appointed minister of economic affairs (UN Women, 03-15-2017). By leading these departments, these women break with not one, but two stereotypes, possibly opening themselves up to even more disadvantageous media attention. This research aims to find out whether females working in stereotypical male fields indeed receive less (favorable) attention by the media as a consequence of the field they work in. This question is important because people are not able to experience all politicians face- to-face; they are dependent on the media for political information they need to base their voting decisions on. So, if it turns out that women in general, or women in particular workfields more specifically, are structurally portrayed less (favorable) in the media than their male colleagues, this can ''discourage citizens from voting for women'' and ''dissuade women from running for 3 public office'' (Wasburn & Wasburn, 2011, p.1028). This is not only problematic from a gender equality point of view, but this also possibly keeps societies form having highly capable leaders, as research suggests that women outperform their male counterparts on many of the measures for leadership effectiveness (Zenger & Folkman, 2012). While previous academic research focuses on part of the problem by investigating the differences in media coverage based on the sex of politicians, while controlling for factors such as incumbency, seniority and party-affiliation, apart from one study by Fernandez-Garcia (2016), no attention has previously been given to the (gendered) workfields these politicians operate in. This is problematic, since research suggests that, when women overstep such traditional boundaries, the media tend to react by covering them differently (Fernandez-Garcia, 2016, p.145), indicating that gendered workfields might play a role in the relationship between politicians and media. By analyzing Dutch newspaper articles published from 1993 till 2018, this study tries to fill this gap and researches the differences in media coverage based on the sex of the politicians as well as the gendered fields they work in. This way, the aim is to find out whether female politicians in general indeed receive less media coverage in terms of quantity and quality, and if this is due to their sex or to the fields they work in. This article continues with an overview of academic research in the fields of gender, political leadership and media, describing previous findings on the differences in media coverage in more detail. Next, the method and data used for this study are discussed, as well as the results. Lastly, the discussion describes the main findings and place this article into its context. 4 Politicians, Gender and the Media The concept of media logic, defined as “the institutional, technological and sociological characteristics of the news media, including their format characteristics, production and dissemination routines, norms and needs’’ (Strömbäck, 2011, p.373 in Cushion, Thomas, Kilby, Morani & Sambrook, 2016, p.473), describes the way in which media content is editorially shaped and structured by journalists. Following the theory of media logic, journalists are not “passive conduits of political information”. Rather, they make editorial decisions based on not only institutional and technological factors, but also on their own values and deeply rooted stereotypes (Lühiste & Banducci, 2016, p.226). These values are used by journalists to judge the newsworthiness of a story, and help them select what stories to write about and how to write them (Major & Coleman, 2008, p.318). So even when journalists strive for objective reporting, their editorial decisions are always influenced by the culture in which they live and by the ideas and stereotypes that are part of that culture (Heldman, Carroll, Olson, 2005, p.316). A stereotype that is commonly held by journalists, is that what it means to be a woman does not correspond well with expectations about what is means to be in politics (Heldman et al., 2005, p.316). When women do run for high political posts, they break with that stereotype and their perceived role in society, with criticism from the media as a consequence (Bystrom, Robertson, Banwart, 2001, p.2002). Moreover, according to the theory of gender ownership of issues ''female candidates are culturally viewed as better at handling ''compassion issues'', such as health care and education, while, as supposed protectors and breadwinners, male candidates are viewed as better equipped to handle national security and the economy'' (Herrnson et al., 2003). Women leading political departments in stereotypically male fields thus break with two stereotypes, possibly leading