User:Cecollins1020/sandbox

Gender Framing
Gender framing is how the media tells a story or portrays political figure based on their sex. More often women are framed and in terms of their gender than men are. Typically, male politicians are framed more by their stance on important issues. Both, issue framing and gender framing, serve as effective tools in swaying public opinion for or against potential candidates. The primary component of a gender frame comes from gender stereotypes. The three most common frames that are based on gender are appearance, family, and femininity. The public has common expectations on these criteria and when the media knowingly manipulates the stereotypes can result in causing favor or disapproval of a politician. A couple recent examples of this gender framing arise from the 2008 candidates of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin.

Appearance Frame
The appearance frame is the most prevalent used by the media. It is based off superficial news topics, and is used for both male and female candidates. It examines the way the individual looks and whether what they wear or how they look will affect the outcome of their election. It uses these superficial terms to qualify their experience, intelligence, and leadership ability to deem acceptable or not. Women in particular are more commonly and heavily judged by their looks than their male counterparts. An attractive woman can face both positive and negative criticism. Appearance can be positive in that good looks are more favorable among the electorate, and can improve the candidate’s chances of support solely because they are nice to look at. Appearance can be used against them because common stereotypes of good looks equal a lower intelligence. One candidate who exemplified both these positive and negative frames was Sarah Palin. People found her appealing based on her appearance, but the media also used her pageant background in efforts to discredit her intelligence.

Age is another factor of the appearance frame. More often, men are seen to be attractive in their later years, where this standard does not hold true for women. Women as they age are viewed more negatively because their fading beauty reminds the public of being past their prime. This is different for men as they are commonly viewed as coming into their prime, appearance-wise, at a later age. A positive frame regarding age for both men and women is that age is linked to wisdom. The connotation associated with age is that wisdom and additional experience lead to stronger qualifications for a leadership position. In the 2008 presidential election, both John McCain and Hillary Clinton were viewed favorable because of their ages and experience over Barack Obama. For them, age and experience was not enough to overcome the powerful grassroots campaign of the Obama administration, and his youthful and good looks also were to his benefit for the media and public.

Family Frame
Motherhood in the family frame is an another way to frame gender in the media,. Traditional gender roles have a significant impact on the success for a female candidate. These roles are noticed in that the primary female role is of motherhood, and having a career is second. Female politicians have to find a balance between mother and politician; a negative impact arises when they are framed in a way that emphasizes their career goals over those of being a mother. Hillary Clinton with her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, is an example of this. The media framed Hillary as exploiting Chelsea when she used Chelsea to aide in her campaign. Several other candidates used their family members, including children, to aide in their campaigns but were not criticized for it like Hillary. Sarah Palin used her motherhood role more effectively in her campaign as she willingly embraced and emphasized this traditional role. The media did however twist and frame this negatively when they brought up and questioned her ability to be an effective vice president and mother. This became even more controversial when the public learned about her eldest daughter’s pregnancy, and her youngest son’s mental disability. There is no strong basis that ties in the personal lives of a candidate in how it will affect the individual’s leadership ability, but is a common way the media frames a candidate to seem incompetent.

Femininity Frame
Femininity and masculinity play a part in how the media uses gender to frame candidates. Femininity implies the characteristics of being soft, caring, and compassionate, which are not the prominent characteristics of a leader. Masculinity does meet these standards of a leader as their characteristics coincide with common characteristics of a leader which include aggression, strength, and independence. With these standards, it increases the likelihood for a man’s election over a woman’s. The female candidate is expected to act feminine because they must meet the appearance standard and gender role of motherhood. This leads to a perception of female behavior. Emotional displays are brought up more often against women and framed in a way to question leadership abilities as she is deemed incapable of handling harsh situations. One prime example of highlighting a female’s emotional display was Hillary Clinton’s crying incident in New Hampshire before the primary election. Crying is commonly associated with weakness, especially in concern with women. Male displays of feminine characteristics or behavior is framed positively because it shows a counter to the traditional male toughness. When a man tears up it is framed as a compassionate and humbling display. It is common for gender framing such as this to hold double standards for men and women.

Double standards are prevalent also when a woman acts manly. It can be framed positively because the public sees toughness and ability to make hard decisions, like with Clinton, but also has the potential to turn voters off. For a female to be manly is seen as in-genuine and odd. It also gives off the opinion of acting a way to please others, but not true. A woman embodying male traits can be accepted when there is a balance of toughness with the more traditional gender stereotypes like good appearance and motherhood. Palin is an example of a successful blend of the two.