Gender Differences in the Media Interviews of Bill and Hillary Clinton

Abstract

Does gender make a difference in the way politicians speak and are spoken to in public? This paper examines perspective in three television interviews and two radio interviews with Bill Clinton in June 2004 and in three television interviews and two radio interviews with Hillary Clinton in June 2003 with the same interviewers. Our perspectival approach assumes that each utterance has a dialogically constructed point of view. Earlier research has shown that markers of conceptual orality and literacy as well as referencing (name and pronoun use for self and other reference) do reflect perspective. This paper asks whether perspective is gendered. Our data analysis demonstrates that some markers of perspective show gender differences while others do not. Those that do include the number of syllables spoken by each interlocutor, referencing, the use of the intensifier so, the use of the hedge you know, the use of non-standard pronunciations, turn transitions, and lastly the use of laughter.

The Role of Verbal and Nonverbal Behavior in Televised Political Debates

“…However, this male model is arguably no longer acceptable for female political candidates, and a tradeoff exists between likeability and competence (Rudman and Fairchild 2004): If they are too masculine (Hillary Clinton), they are perceived as able but are disliked, whereas if they are too feminine (Sarah Palin), they are liked but are viewed as incompetent (McGinley 2009;Suleiman and O'Connell 2007). Female candidates receive more votes in simulated elections only when they are evaluated higher on both stereotypical ''masculine'' and ''feminine'' characteristics, whereas male candidates seem to enjoy more flexibility (Bystrom 2004;Cheung and Helpern 2010;Hall 2004;Lawless 2009).…”

Communicating with One Another

“…Again, the we and they mentality prevailed -good guys and bad guys. Finally, notable differences in the way in which Hillary and Bill Clinton referred to their interviewers in their media interviews (Suleiman & O'Connell, 2008) have been found. Hillary Clinton addressed all five of her interviewers (male and female alike) with their first name, whereas Bill Clinton addressed none of his interviewers in this manner.…”