Women in power: aspects of women's speeches in electoral campaigns

Abstract

This article analyzes the television spots of female presidential candidates Dilma Rousseff (Brazil), Michelle Bachelet (Chile) and Cristina Kirchner (Argentina) in their respective electoral campaigns. It aims at assessing how these Latin American presidents positioned themselves as women in their campaigns. The research question guiding our analysis was Do campaign positions neutralize or reinforce gender stereotypes? We rely on a specialized literature in order to understand the issues related to gender and its connections to electoral disputes. The empirical analysis was done through content analysis and measured the presence of the theme of "woman" in said television spots. We also analyze the position chosen in other aspects of television ads, assessing the presence of three main codes: iconic, linguistic, and sonorous. The results show that the agenda of gender-related issues has concentrated on ads dealing with motherhood and job creation. In order to overcome gender stereotypes, the candidates were presented in agreement with the attributes perceived as necessary for political leadership, with an emphasis placed on traditionally masculine traits such as self-determination, seriousness, intelligence, competence, and leadership. Analyses of television spots show that in some instances the candidates reproduce gender stereotypes in their campaigns.

political communication; gender; Latin America; elections; women's speech