Framing gender and women politicians representation: print media coverage of spanish women ministers

Resumo

This article explores the media treatment of cabinet members in Spain. Women politicians have become increasingly visible in Spanish public life and in the media. In 2004 a gender-balanced cabinet was formed for the first time, and women have been appointed to cabinet positions in areas that had traditionally been restricted to men, such as Defense and Economy. Based on a sample of news articles (1,969) from the four main Spanish newspapers (El País, La Vanguardia, El Mundo and ABC) this article examines the media treatment of the first government of Conservative José Maria Aznar (1996), Socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (2004), and the first cabinet of Mariano Rajoy (2011). The analysis compares the firsts days of the coverage of male and female members in quantitative and qualitative terms, focusing on 1) the visibility and prominence of each cabinet member; 2) mentions of their personal traits, appearance, and private life; and 3) the general tone of the report. The study analyzes the coverage of members of the different cabinets trying to understand the differences between Conservative and Socialist governments, the differences in the coverage by gender of the minister and by the type of portfolios women and men receive. The study reveals that media coverage of women ministers is still different to men’s despite the fact that the presence of women increased in 2004 to achieve for the first time a gender-balanced government. But gender is not the only explanation to this different coverage. Different distribution of ministries between women and men seems also relevant.