Gender and Stereotypes in the News Coverage of Female Political Candidates: An Analysis of Taiwanese Newspapers' Coverage of Tsai Ing-wen’s Presidential Campaigns in 2012 and 2016

On January 16th, 2016, the Taiwanese people elected for the first time a female President of the Republic of China (ROC). The new President elected, Tsai Ing-wen, is not only well known for her long political career but is also a pioneer among female political leaders on the island. After being the first female vice Premier in 2006, she became the first woman to lead a major political party in 2008, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and was also the first woman to run for President in 2012. Tsai’s two presidential candidacies offer a good opportunity to study gender stereotypes in Taiwanese newspapers. American and European studies on gender stereotypes in the news coverage of female political candidates have shown that media tends to cover women candidates in a traditional gender role frame. Although the media covers women candidates as much as their male opponents, the quality of the coverage perpetrates gender stereotypes. This study aims to see whether Taiwanese newspapers followed the same pattern in the coverage of Tsai Ing-wen’s 2012 and 2016 presidential election campaigns. It is based on previous studies conducted in the U.S. and more particularly on the works of Bystrom et al. in 2004 and Kaitlyn Ryan in 2013. It utilizes theories and methods applied to gender studies. Through the study of four Chinese language and two English language newspapers’ articles, this research aims first, to evaluate the importance given to Tsai Ing-wen’s gender in the coverage of her two presidential campaigns; and second, to analyze whether the Taiwanese media conveyed gender stereotypes in their portrayal of the female presidential candidate. It focuses on the periods of March 2011 to January 2012 and March 2015 to January 2016 and uses content analysis methods. Results shows that the gender of the female candidate was not emphasized in the coverage and she was actually portrayed in an almost gender neutral manner in 2012 and even more in 2016. Moreover, the media did not convey the traditional stereotypes usually found in Western studies. Tsai Ing-wen was portrayed as a viable political leader in the same way as her male counterparts. This paper then tries to explain the possible reasons and consequences of the above findings.