Gender and Political Communication: Empirical Perspectives

Around the world women and gender diverse people remain underrepresented in political institutions, decision-making processes, and policy outcomes. Political communication is a key site where gender inequalities can be reproduced but also challenged and transformed. Gender influences how politicians communicate their agendas and how voters interpret these messages, with media organisations operating as powerful gatekeepers. In the current political context, where democratic backsliding and the rise of far-right actors across Europe and beyond threatens the rights of women, empirical research into these dynamics is essential to identify both the barriers to equality and opportunities for change. This section invites empirical research at the intersection of gender and political communication. We welcome proposals for individual papers, full panels, and roundtables that address this intersection using diverse methodological approaches. We invite submissions related (but not limited) to the following themes: Communication by political actors – Politicians navigate gendered expectations regarding their roles, character traits and policy priorities in their communication. These expectations are shaped by contextually-bound stereotypes and gendered media institutions – such as male-dominated newsrooms or gender-biased social media algorithms – that may reward or constrain certain forms of self-presentation. We invite submissions examining political actors’ campaigns, communication and self-presentation across different channels (e.g., social media, parliamentary speech) as well as research on how voters perceive these messages. We welcome papers that use text, speech, or visual data, as well as experimental studies on voter evaluations. Communication about political actors – Media institutions shape which politicians are visible to the public and how their messages are presented. Patterns of coverage – both in quantity and content – can reinforce inequalities in representation. This theme invites submissions analysing the gendered nature of politicians’ media coverage, including visibility, content, framing, and tone, as well as research on gendered dynamics within the journalism industry and the effects of media portrayals on voter attitudes. We welcome research focusing on traditional news media, emerging media platforms, and popular culture. Communication about gender(ed) issues – In recent years feminist activism and growing anti-feminist backlash have increased the salience of gender issues on the policy & media agendas. We invite submissions examining how gender-related issues are communicated by both political and media actors, including the salience and/or framing of gender-related issues in party manifestos, speeches, policy documents, or media coverage. Broader gendered discourses, such as femonationalism, are also of interest. We welcome diverse quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method approaches. The goal of this section is to showcase high-quality empirical research, drawing on diverse approaches, that advances understanding of how political communication perpetuates or challenges gender inequalities and identifies pathways toward more inclusive practice in media and politics. We therefore welcome contributions that employ quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-method approaches, including but not limited to content analysis, discourse analysis, computational techniques, interviews, surveys, and experiments. We adopt an inclusive understanding of gender including women, men, non-binary, transgender, and gender-nonconforming individuals, and we particularly welcome intersectional analyses. Finally, we invite contributions from a wide range of regional contexts, including comparative perspectives within and beyond Europe.