Despite their potential
to promote women’s political participation by stressing its key role in
democracy, mass media often present gender-based stereotypes of women through
negative and belittling images, contributing to their exclusion from the
political sphere. This has an unfavorable impact on women politicians and
candidates, who are often portrayed as weak leaders, with a focus on their
physical appearance or family life, instead of their political views and
proposals. Media monitoring initiatives can help identify bias against women in
the media and assess the quality and plurality of election coverage. Capacity
building and training for journalists and media professionals can also improve
their skills on gender-sensitive reporting, supporting gender equality in the
media coverage of elections. Furthermore, integrating gender equality
provisions in codes of conduct for media in elections can contribute to avoid
harmful stereotypes against women politicians and integrate their voices in the
public debate. Social media have become a key communication platform in
electoral contests. Social media offer women politicians an opportunity to gain
visibility and express their political ideas before the electorate, but at the
same time they often contribute to the reproduction of gender-based stereotypes
and have perpetuated gender-based violence against women in politics and
elections.
For more information on
this topic, please see the ACE Project section on “Gender,
Media and Elections” in the topic area Media and Elections.
