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Abstract
This article assesses the ways in which electoral systems present unique rhetorical challenges for women running for elective office, using German Chancellor Angela Merkel as a case study. In proportional systems, much of the rhetorical work occurs at the level of the party, requiring the political woman to capitalize on the rhetorical resources of the party structure in which she finds herself, advancing to party leadership, and eventually localizing the national election via the party structure. However, Merkel's performance demonstrates that the presence of women and of feminine norms of communication can sometimes mask the hegemonic masculinity that continues to govern democratic electoral systems. The authors conclude by considering the utility of the theory of “feminine style.”
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Communication Quarterly's editor and anonymous reviewers for their helpful feedback on this essay.
Notes
InterParliamentary Union, “Women in National Parliaments as of February 1, 2013,” February 1, 2013, http://www.ipu.org (accessed February 19, 2013).
Ibid.
“Rwanda: Female-Majority House Elects Speaker after Historic Poll,” The Nation, AllAfrica Global Media, (October 6, 2008), http://allafrica.com (accessed December 13, 2009).
Center for American Women and Politics. “Women Serving in the 113th Congress 2013–15,” (Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University, 2013), http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu (accessed February 4, 2013).
“The World's 100 Most Powerful Women,” Forbes, (May 22, 2013), http://www.forbes.com (accessed June 3, 2013). Merkel dropped to #4 in 2010.
Kyle McKinnon, “New Year Holds Promise of Upswing for Germany,” Deutche-Welle, (December 31, 2005), http://www.dw-world.de (accessed September 20, 2009).
A proportional system is used in some presidential primaries in the United States as well. See, for example, “Delegate Allocation Rules in 2012 GOP Nomination Race,” http://www.fairvote.org/delegate-allocation-rules-in-2012-gop (accessed August 28, 2012).
Karlyn Kohrs Campbell argued that feminine style “was not, and is not today, a style exclusive to women, either as speakers or as audiences.” Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, Man Cannot Speak for Her: A Critial Study of Early Feminist Rhetoric, volume I (New York, NY: Praeger, 1989), 12; Bonnie J. Dow, “Feminism, Difference(s), and Rhetorical Studies,” Communication Studies 46 (1995): 106–117. See page 108.
See Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, Man Cannot Speak for Her; Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Eloquence in an Electronic Age: The Transformation of Political Speechmaking (New York, NY: Oxford University Press).
Bonnie J. Dow and Mari Boor Tonn, “‘Feminine Style’ and Political Judgment in the Rhetoric of Ann Richards,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 79 (1993): 286–302; Jane Blankenship and Deborah C. Robson, “A ‘Feminine Style’ in Women's Political Discourse: An Exploratory Essay,” Communication Quarterly 43 (1995): 353–366.
Shawn J. Parry-Giles and Trevor Parry-Giles, “Gendered Politics and Presidential Image Construction: A Reassessment of the ‘Feminine Style’,” Communication Monographs 63 (1996): 337–353.
Wilma Rule, “Parliaments of, by, and for the People: Except for Women?” In Electoral Systems in Comparative Perspective: Their Impact on Women and Minorities (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994), 16.
Douglas J. Amy, Real Choices/New Voices (New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2002), 9, 114–116.
Karrin Vasby Anderson, “‘Rhymes with Blunt’: Pornification and U.S. Political Culture,” Rhetoric & Public Affairs 14 (2011): 327–368; Erica Falk, “Gender Bias and Maintenance: Press Coverage of Senator Hillary Clinton's Announcement to Seek the White House.” In Janis L. Edwards, ed., Gender and Political Communication in America: Rhetoric, Representation, and Display (Lanham, MD: Lexington, 2009), 219–231.
Andrew Reynolds, Ben Reilly, and Andrew Ellis, Electoral System Design: The New International IDEA Handbook (Stockholm: International IDEA, 2005).
Ibid.
Amy, Real Choices, 18–19.
Richard E. Matland, “Enhancing Women's Political Participation: Legislative Recruitment and Electoral Systems,” Women in Parliament: Beyond the Numbers (Stockholm, International IDEA, 2002), 6–7; Pippa Norris, “Women's Representation and Electoral Systems.” In Richard Rose, ed., Encyclopedia of Electoral Systems (Washington, DC: CQ Press), 2.
Amy, Real Choices, 6–7.
Douglas M. Ponton, “The Female Political Leader: A Study of Gender-Identity in the Case of Margerat Thatcher,” Journal of Language and Politics 9 (2010): 198.
Ibid., 206.
Ibid., 206–207.
Ibid., 215.
Anderson, “‘Rhymes with Blunt.’”
Quoted in “Hillary Clinton—Rising Above Sexism & Misogyny,” video montage, May 19, 2008, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbzT2YqhGT4 (accessed March 2, 2013).
Anderson, “‘Rhymes with Blunt,’” 345.
Meredith Conroy, “Political Parties: Advancing a Masculine Ideal,” in Lori Cox Han and Carolyn Haldman, eds., Rethinking Madam President: Are We Ready for a Woman in the White House? (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc., 2007), 133.
Drude Dahlerup, “Using Quotas to Increase Women's Political Representation,” Women in Parliament (Stockholm: International IDEA, 2002). Originally in International IDEA's Handbook: Women in Parliament: Beyond Numbers (Stockholm, International IDEA, 1998), 4.
Sheri Kunovich and Pamela Paxton, “Pathways to Power: The Role of Political Parties in Women's National Political Representation,” The American Journal of Sociology (September 1, 2005), 4.
Table compiled by the authors based on statistics from InterParliamentary Union, “Women in National Parliaments;” Women's Environment and Development Organization, “Getting the Balance Right in National Parliaments;” “Female Presidents,” Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership, http://www.guide2womenleaders.com (accessed June 3, 2013); “Guide to Women Premier Ministers,” Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership, http://www.guide2womenleaders.com (accessed June 3, 2013); “QuotaProject: Global Database of Quotas for Women,” (University of Stockholm: International IDEA), http://quotaproject.org (accessed June 3, 2013); Reynolds, Reilly, and Ellis, Electoral System Design.
Parry-Giles and Parry-Giles, “Gendered Politics and Presidential Image Construction.”
German Bundestag, Public Relations Division, Facts—The Bundestag at a Glance,” Deutscher Bundestag, Berlin (August 2011) https://www.btg-bestellservice.de/pdf/80140000.pdf (accessed February 13, 2013).
Parliament of Germany, Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership, http://www.guide2womenleaders.com/Germany_Parliament.htm (accessed February 13, 2013).
Germany Parties, Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership, http://www.guide2womenleaders.com/germany_parties.htm (accessed February 13, 2013).
Conroy, “Political Parties,” 138.
Sarah Elise Wiliarty, “Angela Merkel's Path to Power: The Role of Internal Party Dynamics and Leadership,” German Politics 17 (2008) http://www.informaworld.com/10.1080/09644000701855168 (accessed February 4, 2009).
See, for example, Evelyn Roll, “This ‘Girl’ was the Smartest. Angela Merkel was Helmut Kohl's Best Student,” The Atlantic Times (Germany), (June 2005), www.atlantic-times.com (accessed August 28, 2012); May Ann Sieghart, “Profile: Angela Merkel,” BBC Radio 4, (September 12, 2009) www.bbc.co.uk (accessed August 28, 2012).
Eric Langenbacher, “Introduction: The Drama of 2005 and the Future of German Politics,” German Politics and Society 78 (Spring 2006): 3.
Myra Marx Ferree, “Angela Merkel: What Does it Mean to Run as a Woman? German Politics and Society 78 (Spring 2006): 102.
Clay Clemens, “From the Outside in: Angela Merkel as Opposition Leader, 2000–2005,” German Politics and Society 78 (Autumn 2006): 47.
Clemens, “From the Outside In,” 49.
Karrin Vasby Anderson and Kristina Horn Sheeler, Governing Codes: Gender Metaphor, and Political Identity (Lanham, MA: Lexington Books, 2005), 14.
Clemens, “From the Outside In,” 45–46.
Angela Merkel, “Die Zeit Kohls ist unwiederbringlich vorüber,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (December 22, 1999); Angela Merkel, “Die von Helmut Kohl eingeräumnten Vorgänge haben der Partei Schaden zugefügt,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (December 22, 1999) www.faz.net (accessed January 13, 2010). All translation has been done by Sheeler.
All references to Merkel's criticism are taken from her editorial: Angela Merkel, “Die von Helmut Kohl eingeräumnten.” All translation has been done by the Sheeler.
Anderson and Sheeler, Governing Codes, 13. Also see Sue Tolleson-Rinehart and Jeanie R. Stanley, Claytie and the Lady: Anne Richards, Gender, and Politics in Texas (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1994), 3.
Clemens, “From the Outside In,” 59.
Ibid., 41.
Ibid., 45.
Gretchen Vogel, “Germany Poised to Elect First Scientist-Chancellor,” Science 309 (September 2, 2005): 1471, http://www.sciencemag.org (accessed October 15, 2010).
Clemens, “From the Outside In,” 49.
Ibid., 53.
See Karlyn Kohrs Campbell and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Presidents Creating the Presidency: Deeds Done in Words (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2008) for a discussion of U. S. presidential inaugurals and their characteristics. Also see Vanessa B. Beasley, You, The People: American National Identity in Presidential Rhetoric (College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 2004).
Beasley, You, The People, 12.
Angela Merkel, “Policy Statement by Federal Chancellor Dr Angela Merkel in the German Bundestag,” November 30, 2005, www.bundesregierung,de (accessed January 14, 2010). All quotations from Merkel's policy statement are taken from this source.
Blankenship and Robson, “A ‘Feminine Style’.”
Campbell, Man Cannot Speak for Her.
Jamieson, Eloquence in an Electronic Age.
Blankenship and Robson, “A ‘Feminine Style’,” 358.
Ibid., 357.
Dow and Tonn, “‘Feminine Style' and Political Judgment.”
Ibid., 287.
Parry-Giles and Parry-Giles, “Gendered Politics,” 338.
Campbell and Jamieson, Presidents Creating the Presidency, 14–15.
Angela Merkel, “Statement by Chancellor Merkel,” November 10, 2009, www.bundeskanzlerin,de (accessed February 19, 2013). All quotations from Merkel's policy statement are taken from this source and translated by the authors.
“Europe and the United States are Indispensable Partners,” January 12, 2006, www.bundeskanzlerin,de (accessed February 19, 2013).
“‘I'm Happy that Today was a Good Beginning …’,” January 13, 2006, www.bundeskanzlerin,de (accessed February 19, 2013).
“Tolerance—A Core European Value,” January 17, 2007, www.bundeskanzlerin,de (accessed February 19, 2013).
“The Secret of Freedom is Courage,” September 8, 2010, www.bundeskanzlerin,de (accessed February 19, 2013).
Constanze Stelzenmüller, “Angela Merkel: The World's Most Powerful Woman?” The Observer (August 23, 2009) http://www.guardian.co.uk (accessed October 6, 2010).
“A Madam Chancellor for Germany?” Deutche Welle (May 24, 2005) http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,1593612,00.html (accessed October 6, 2010).
Ruth Elkins, “Angela Merkel: Iron Mädchen,” The Independent (June 19, 2005) http://www.independent.co.uk (accessed October 6, 2010).
Clay Risen, “Deutchland's Iron Lady? Slate (July 5, 2005) http://www.slate.com/id/2122001/ (accessed October 6, 2010).
Stryker McGuire, “Europe's Iron Lady,” Newsweek (May 14–21, 2007) http://www.msnbc.msn.com (accessed October 6, 2010).
Ibid.
Vincent Fernando, “Merkel's Killer Poker Game has Shown How, in the End, the Eurozone is Simply Run by Germany,” Business Insider (March 25, 2010) http://www.businessinsider.com (accessed October 6, 2010).
Tony Patterson, “The Iron Frau: Angela Merkel,” The Independent (April 12, 2010) http://www.independent.co.uk (accessed October 6, 2010).
Ibid.
Parry-Giles and Parry-Giles, “Gendered Politics,” 350.
Jamieson, Eloquence in an Electronic Age.