Gendered Political Discourse in the Media

Abstract Chapter 6 examines one possible mechanism by which the public might learn about the feminizing effects of women’s descriptive representation. This chapter develops a framework of feminine and masculine political process coverage to explain when and how the news media will shift the frames used to talk about the process by which Congress, and other key political actors, considers, negotiates, and passes legislation. Past work shows quite clearly that the news media rely on frames of conflict and gridlock, all stereotypically masculine behaviors, to cover political processes—and these frames turn individuals off politics. Breaking down the white-masculine stereotypes of political institutions will shift how the news media talk about the political process to rely on feminine political process frames. Feminine political process frames, a new concept introduced in this book, highlight compromise and consensus-building over fighting and obstructionism. This chapter shows how the use of feminine process frames emerge by tracking the news coverage of Congress and its passage of key legislation such as budgets from 2007 through 2020. These time frames are matched with data on women’s representation in Congress. The results find that more women in office contribute to the increased use of feminine process frames though masculine process frames tend to be the norm even when women are in high-profile and powerful positions. The biggest effects on the inclusion of women’s voices in news coverage are, more specifically, gains in women of color’s representation in office.