Gendered Issue Depictions in Commander in Chief versus The West Wing

Abstract

Textual analyses show that political communication reflects and/or perpetuates stereotypical assumptions about male and female issue competencies that hinder the ascendance of women to national political office. This study asked if gendered issue competencies were reflected in the first seasons of NBC's The West Wing (male president) and ABC's Commander in Chief (female president). A content analysis revealed that Commander in Chief's female president placed greater emphasis than The West Wing's male president on one masculine issue (crime) and one feminine issue (women's issues), whereas The West Wing's male president placed greater emphasis than Commander in Chief's female president on two masculine issues (international issues and taxes). Overall, masculine issues were depicted more often than feminine issues. Results showed that Commander in Chief's reliance on a masculine issue frame may have reinforced a masculine image of the presidency. We speculate that this frame continues to disadvantage female candidates for national political office.

Notes

^aSubstantial agreement (Landis & Koch, 1977).

^bExcellent agreement (Fleiss, 1971).

^cPerfect or almost perfect agreement (Landis & Koch, 1977).

Note. Significance values are two-tailed.