Embodiment of absence: to what extent do media narratives of childless women in political leadership reinforce or challenge gendered expectations?

Motherhood remains central to gendered social expectations and women in politics continue to face scrutiny regarding their reproductive status. Many women in politics are not mothers, even as societal norms continue to position motherhood as the default and childlessness as a deviation requiring explanation. This study examines Theresa May and Kamala Harris as intersectional case studies of the embodied absence of motherhood in the contemporary political landscape. Drawing on social reproduction theory and the concept of embodiment of absence, it investigates how their childless status is presented in news media and what this reveals about the reinforcement or contestation of traditional gender expectations. Using corpus-assisted discourse studies, the analysis demonstrates that while overt criticism of childlessness is generally rejected, subtler regulatory practices persist, shaping the gendered presentation of women in politics. Childlessness emerges as a symbolically marked feature of political identity, framed either as a deficit or as a means of reinforcing alternative markers of femininity. In doing so, this research highlights the ambivalent ways in which media discourses continue to regulate women’s political authority through reproductive status.