Media Representation of Women Politicians from a Gender to an Intersectionality Perspective

Abstract

Media Representations of Women Politi- cians from a Gender to an Intersectionality Perspective. This article investigates media representation from a perspective of intersectionality defined as one that deconstructs the category ‘woman’ by looking at different social divisions such as class, ethnicity, gender, race and sexuality. An intersectionality perspective is constructive in broadening the debate on the media as a powerful political site for different groups of men and women politicians. The analytical point of the article is that a perspective of intersectionality deepens the understanding of the ways that the media organize power through stereotypical representation and homogenization of social categories.

An intersectional approach to media coverage of politics in New Zealand: The case of Metiria Turei and Paula Bennett

“…Research outside of the North American context illustrates how differences in historical and cultural background, and different political and media systems influence the form and content of biases in media coverage. For instance, Danish mainstream media have stressed the Muslim religious background of congresswoman Özlem Cekic (Fiig, 2010), revealing and shaping audience interest and biases. French mainstream newspapers otherize French minority women politicians and construct them as unfit and illegitimate to represent the French population in its diverse entirety (Galy-Badenas and Gray, 2020).…”