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.