ORBIT-OnlineRepository ofBirkbeckInstitutionalTheses Enabling Open Access to Birkbeck’s Research Degree output Gendering political leadership: a case study of the UK, examining media and voter perceptions https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/40435/ Version: Full Version Citation: Smith, Jessica (2019) Gendering political leadership: a case study of the UK, examining media and voter perceptions. [Thesis] (Un- published) c 2020 The Author(s) All material available through ORBIT is protected by intellectual property law, including copy- right law. Any use made of the contents should comply with the relevant law. Deposit Guide Contact: email Gendering Political Leadership: A Case Study of the UK, Examining Media and Voter Perceptions Thesis submitted for completion of PhD Politics, Birkbeck College, University of London Jessica C. Smith I declare that the work submitted for the completion of this thesis is solely that of the candidate, Jessica C. Smith. Signed: Date: 1 Abstract The central research question of this thesis is: Are perceptions of political leadership gendered, and if so, how? The thesis examines both the different ways, and extent to which, the concept of political leadership is gendered and how this gendering is context specific via an examination of the UK case. Gendered norms are dynamic and vary over time and place, yet, much of the extant literature on gender stereotypes and leader evaluations takes a somewhat static approach to theorising how gender mediates political leadership and pays too little attention to cultural and political context. This runs counter to recent work within the ‘interactionalist’ paradigm in the wider study of political leadership, which privileges context in determining the effectiveness of leaders. This thesis takes a twin-track method to examine in-depth, firstly, the media’s representations of men and women political leaders, both in the contemporary context and over time, and, secondly, voter perceptions of British political leadership using innovative experimental methods. It offers the first comprehensive and methodologically nuanced account of gender’s role in political leadership in the UK context. The two methods work in synergy to reveal nuances and complexities in the gendering of political leadership in the British case. The analysis supports the thesis’ original claim: that gendering is complex; that context is important; and that a primarily US-based body of literature does not necessarily, or easily, travel to the UK context. Moreover, gendering was found to vary between media and voters, over time, and potentially between demographic groups of voters. A systematic analysis of the British case offers an opportunity to contribute to, and critically engage with, current gendered and non-gendered debates on political leadership and increases our understanding of the complex gendered environment in which leaders operate. 2 Contents List of Tables 4 List of Figures 5 Acknowledgments 6 Introduction 8 Chapter 1: Literature Review 13 Chapter 2: Methodology and Research Design 43 Chapter 3: Decent Blokes and First Women: Gender in the 69 2015 UK Labour Party Leadership Election Chapter 4: Politics and Parenthood: An Examination of UK 112 Party Leadership Elections Chapter 5: Voter Perceptions and Candidate Sex: An 132 Experimental Analysis Chapter 6: Voting for Mother and Father: An Experimental 172 Analysis Chapter 7: Conclusion 207 Bibliography 232 Appendixes 250 3 List of Tables Table 1: Trait Stereotypes ........................................................................................... 17 Table 2. Conservative and Labour Party Leadership Elections since 1945 ....... 47 Table 3: Content Analysis Sources ........................................................................... 50 Table 4: Seymour-Ure’s Characteristics ................................................................... 53 Table 5: Trait Framework ............................................................................................ 54 Table 6. Visibility by Candidate .................................................................................. 73 Table 7. Newspaper and Broadcast Mean Visibility Index by Reporter Sex* ...... 77 Table 8. General News Framing by Type of Media and Sex of Candidate .......... 84 Table 9. Top Five Traits for Candidates .................................................................... 90 Table 10. Trait Groupings by Candidate ................................................................... 90 Table 11. Tone of Traits in Framework by Sex ........................................................ 91 Table 12. Tone of Positive Traits in Context by Trait Grouping and Sex ............ 93 Table 13. Tone of Positive Traits in Context by Trait Grouping and Candidate . 94 Table 14. Number of Articles Mentioning Candidate’s Family by Politician and Election ........................................................................................................................ 118 Table 15. N of Articles Mentioning Childlessness ................................................ 124 Table 16. Candidate Biographies ............................................................................. 143 Table 17. Total and Valid Sample Demographics Experiment 1 and 2 .............. 148 Table 18. Pre-Election Vote Choice by Sex of Participant ................................... 151 Table 19. Total Articles Viewed by Participants .................................................... 152 Table 20. Mean Total Articles Viewed by Participant Demographics ................ 153 Table 21. Total N of Articles Viewed ....................................................................... 153 Table 22. Post-Election Vote Choice by Participant Sex ..................................... 159 Table 23. OLS Regression on Post-Election Trait Scores ................................... 160 Table 24. Participants Who Changed Vote Choice from a Female to a Male Candidate .................................................................................................................... 161 Table 25. Crosstab Vote Choice and Party Leadership Election ........................ 162 Table 26. Crosstab Vote Choice and Party Leaning ............................................. 163 Table 27. Crosstab Vote Choice and Age Grouping ............................................. 163 Table 28. Total Articles Viewed by Participants .................................................... 184 Table 29. Mean Total Articles Viewed by Participant Demographics ................ 184 Table 30. Mean Total Information Viewed by Type of Candidate ....................... 185 Table 31. OLS Regression on Post-Election Trait Scores ................................... 190 Table 32. Sex of Participant and Vote Choice ....................................................... 192 Table 33. Age and Vote Choice Crosstab ............................................................... 193 Table 34. Party Leadership Election and Vote Choice Crosstab ........................ 194 Table 35. Party Leaning and Vote Choice Crosstab ............................................. 195 Table 36. Parenthood of Participant and Vote Choice Crosstab ........................ 196 Table 37. Summary of Thesis Hypotheses ............................................................. 208 4 List of Figures Figure 1: Dimensions of Personalisation in the News ........................................... 40 Figure 2. Example DPTE Scrolling Home-screen .................................................... 61 Figure 3. Example DPTE Article ................................................................................. 61 Figure 4. Experimental Design ................................................................................... 62 Figure 5. Example Opening Screen for Experiment 1 Conservative Leadership Election .......................................................................................................................... 64 Figure 6. Total Mean Candidate Visibility by Month ............................................... 75 Figure 7. Average Tweets per Day by Month ........................................................... 76 Figure 8. Overall Tone of News Items by Sex .......................................................... 78 Figure 9. Overall Tone of Coverage by Media Type ................................................ 78 Figure 10. Tone of News Items by Candidate and Media Type ............................. 79 Figure 11. Newspaper Article Tone for Female vs Male Journalists .................... 80 Figure 12. General News Frames by Sex for all News Items ................................. 82 Figure 13. News Item Framing by Sex of Journalist ............................................... 85 Figure 14. “Guido’s Fashion Tips: Labour Leadership Edition” .......................... 99 Figure 15. Tone of Statements for Candidates With Children ............................ 119 Figure 16. Tone of Statements for Candidates Without Children ....................... 120 Figure 17. Example DPTE Scrolling Home Screen ............................................... 140 Figure 18. Example DPTE Article ............................................................................. 140 Figure 19. Example Opening Screen for Conservative Leadership Election ... 142 Figure 20. Example Criticism of Issue Position .................................................... 145 Figure 21. Example Endorsement Article ..............................................................