Gender and attention to and framing of COVID‐19 in congressional tweets

Abstract

Background Previous research demonstrates that congressional communication on Twitter is gendered. Congresswomen are more likely to tweet about issues than Congressmen during elections, and they are also more likely to tweet about “women's issues” (healthcare, education, reproductive rights, welfare) than their male counterparts. Objectives Given the partisan and gendered coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) pandemic effects researchers have documented, we examine whether Congressmembers. communication about COVID‐19 is also gendered and partisan. Methods To examine how Senators and House Representatives were discussing the pandemic online, we collected the tweets sent by members of both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate from February 1st until May 14th, 2020. Results Gender and partisanship shape how members communicate about COVID‐19 on Twitter, and this is especially pronounced in the framing of COVID‐19 in terms of “women's issues.” Conclusion We find evidence that there is a gendered partisan divide in both the frequency and framing of the issue on Twitter. This divide is likely to continue to shape how the public thinks about the pandemic and how elites. respond to the pandemic.