Invoking the idealized family to assess political leadership and legitimacy: news coverage of Australian and Canadian premiers

ABSTRACT

Conventional wisdom holds that women politicians confront a parenting dilemma. Those with children are questioned about their ability to balance parental roles with political responsibilities, but child-free women are regarded as unable to relate to “ordinary” families or perform well in “feminine” policy areas. As both women and men are now balancing parenthood with politics, the time is ripe to re-investigate how cultural ideas about family life shape understandings of political leadership. By systematically comparing newspaper coverage of 22 Canadian and Australian government leaders with diverse families, our study investigates the ways in which discourses of family shape representations of high-profile politicians. It provides valuable insights into the ways in which politicians’ levels of conformity to the idealized western family model shape perceptions of political legitimacy and authenticity for women and men, and parents and non-parents. We find that when the families of newly elected leaders are discussed in newspaper coverage, the message conveyed is that only the “right” kind of family will facilitate political success.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender
• family
• politics
• media
• leadership

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. These findings predominantly refer to white heterosexual men, as racialized, gay, and/or queer men continue to be underrepresented in political office as well as in academic research.

2. While both Canada and Australia have had Indigenous premiers at the territorial level, our study does not include the territories because they do not have the constitutional powers exercised by states and provinces.

3. Sexual orientation was mentioned in just one case, that of former Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne, who self-identifies as lesbian.

4. The national newspapers are The Australian and Canada’s Globe and Mail. For Australia’s states, Brisbane’s Courier Mail, Hobart’s Mercury, and the Sydney Morning Herald offered coverage of Queensland, Tasmania, and New South Wales, respectively. For Canada, the Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Toronto Star, Vancouver Sun and St. John’s Telegram reported on premiers in Alberta, Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia and Newfoundland.

5. For cases where the individual’s party was in government, data collection began as soon as they were confirmed as the victor in the party’s leadership contest. Where individuals won the position by bringing opposition parties to victory in general elections, data collection began when the party was declared the election winner.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [890-2016-0003].

Notes on contributors

Meagan Auer

Meagan Auer is a doctoral student at the University of Alberta, Canada.

Linda Trimble

Linda Trimble is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta, Canada.

Jennifer Curtin

Jennifer Curtin is Professor of Politics and Director of the Policy Institute at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Angelia Wagner

Angelia Wagner is an Adjunct Academic Colleague in the Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta, Canada.

V. K. G. Woodman

Victoria Woodman is a doctoral student at the University of Auckland.