A multifactorial analysis of metaphors in political discourse

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-168
Author(s):  
Huiheng Zeng ◽  
Dennis Tay ◽  
Kathleen Ahrens
Keyword(s):  
Political Discourse ◽  
Women In Politics ◽  
Political Role ◽  
Political Roles ◽  
Female Politicians ◽  
Political Speeches ◽  
Metaphor Use ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Oriented Approach

Abstract The rising prominence of women in politics has sparked a growing interest in comparing the language of male and female politicians. Many researchers have explored whether gender in politics has had an impact on their metaphor styles. While these studies have been oriented qualitatively and have concentrated on the two-way interaction between metaphor and gender, the possibility that metaphor and gender may interact with other additional factors is largely overlooked. This article adopts a quantitatively oriented approach complemented with textual analysis to explore potential multiple-way interactions between ‘metaphor’, ‘gender’, ‘speech section’ and ‘political role’ in political discourse. By conducting a case study of metaphor use in Hong Kong political speeches, we found evidence of gendered metaphors and their variability according to politicians’ political roles and different rhetorical sections in their speeches.

Negative Media Frames and Female Politicians: A Case Study of Jamaica’s First Female Prime Minister, Portia Simpson-Miller

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracy-Ann Johnson-Myers
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Women In Politics ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Media Frames ◽  
Editorial Cartoons ◽  
Female Politicians ◽  
The Media ◽  
And Gender

Abstract This study raises questions about how Jamaica’s first female prime minister, Portia Simpson-Miller, was portrayed in the media. This will be done through content analysis of editorial cartoons, covering the period in which Mrs Simpson-Miller occupied the highest public office in the country. An interesting finding from the study is that, unlike many female political leaders, media coverage of Simpson-Miller focused primarily on her performance as prime minister of Jamaica and less on her physical appearance and gender. The findings from this study will add to the wider discourse on the media’s portrayal of women in politics.

Corruption, Opportunity Networks, and Gender

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Wiesehomeier ◽  
Tània Verge
Keyword(s):  
Conjoint Analysis ◽  
Unethical Behavior ◽  
Gender Stereotype ◽  
Women In Politics ◽  
Representative Survey ◽  
Business Interests ◽  
Female Politicians ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
And Gender

Abstract Given the gender stereotype that women are more ethical than men, people should assess female politicians as being less corruptible. Yet information about access to networks suggests that opportunities to engage in unethical behavior may counter this perception. Using a conjoint analysis in a nationally representative survey in Spain, a country shaken by corruption scandals, we asked respondents to identify the more corruptible politician between two hypothetical local councilors by imagining an investor willing to offer a bribe to advance business interests. Results indicate that female politicians do symbolically stand for honesty. However, this assessment is offset by embeddedness cues signaling a woman politician’s access to opportunity networks. We discuss our findings in light of instrumentalist arguments for an increase of women in politics as a means to combat corruption.

scholarly journals Metaphor, Religion, and Gender: A Case Study of Metaphor Analysis in Islamic Motivational Speech Corpus

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 95
Author(s):  
Norasyikin Abdul Malik ◽  
Faizah Mohamad
Keyword(s):  
Living Organism ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Speech Corpus ◽  
Conceptual Mapping ◽  
Metaphor Use ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Heart Foundation

Metaphor plays a vital role in human communication and its presence is evident in various discourses across genres. Nevertheless, there is a scarcity in the study of metaphors used among different genders especially in religious discourse. Thus, the current study aims to examine metaphor use in religious motivational speeches between two (male and female) speakers. A corpus-based approach, that involved analysis of keywords, collocation, and concordance, was selected in identifying linguistic metaphors while conceptual mapping (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980) was chosen to identify conceptual metaphors in both corpora. The main data consist of four speeches of Yasmin Mogahed (YM Corpus) and four speeches of Nouman Ali Khan’s speeches (NAK Corpus) retrieved from their YouTube Channels. #LancsBox 5.0 was chosen as the tool in analysing the language patterns. From the findings, it can be concluded Yasmin used a higher frequency of metaphors compared to Nouman. This is evident from the results in the collocation analysis in YM corpus that showed seven collocates (‘SWT’, ‘heart’, ‘foundation’, ‘healthy’, ‘fear’, ‘solid’, and ‘fill’) were predetermined to have signals of metaphorical expressions as compared to NAK corpus that only has four collocates (‘evil’, ‘syirik’, ‘religion’, and ‘faith’) with signals of metaphorical expressions. It is also apparent that the variety of metaphors used by Yasmin is more diverse (BUILDING, HUMAN/LIVING ORGANISM, TREE, and CONTAINER metaphors) as compared to Nouman that only uses COMPUTER FILE and CONTAINER metaphors. Yasmin’s choice of metaphors seems to be heavily influenced with the common metaphors used in the Qur’an, while Nouman’s lack choice of metaphors indicate his preference in explaining religious concepts through literal explanation instead of metaphorical one. Future studies are recommended to have a bigger sample to better differentiate the metaphor usage between genders. It is also imperative for future research to further examine the implications of different choice of metaphors on the construction of meaning in the Islamic motivational religious corpus between different genders.  

scholarly journals Women in Politics in Matrilineal Society: A Case Study of West Sumatra, Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selinaswati Selinaswati
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Community Leaders ◽  
Women In Politics ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Female Politicians ◽  
West Sumatra ◽  
Women's Political Participation

Studies of women in politics have mostly been done within patriarchal socialstructures around the world. These studies show that women have many potentialopportunities to become involved in public life; as voters in elections, like politicalcandidates, and if successful as members of the administrative class or asMembers of Parliament (MPs). However, female politicians may be affected byseveral factors within the social, economic, political and cultural systems. Thisthesis examined whether the matrilineal social structure of the province of WestSumatra, Indonesia, influences women’s political participation in localparliaments. West Sumatra is dominated by the Minangkabau ethnic group,which has a matrilineal tradition that provides more opportunities for women interms of property ownership and non-household activities. It was assumed thatwomen who were involved in local politics would be affected by these culturalvalues.This research was a case study. Three categories of informants, femalepoliticians, community leaders, and voters, were interviewed to identify thestrategies and experiences of female politicians and the diversity of opinionregarding female politicians in this matrilineal society. Data was obtainedthrough fieldwork carried out from July to October 2012 in West Sumatra.During this period, in-depth, semi-structured interviews were carried out inlocations where female politicians had been elected to the local parliament.Additional information was obtained from 17 voting members of the publicthrough the use of a questionnaire. Secondary data were obtained fromgovernment documents and local parliaments, online resources, institutions, andorganizations.The study found that the matrilineal system in West Sumatra inspired femalepoliticians in their efforts to gain a seat in parliament. However, they alsoexperienced disadvantages in the matrilineal and Indonesian political system. Itwas found that the opinions of community leaders toward female politicianswere largely neutral and saw female politicians as compared to male ones. Thevoting public tends to have less knowledge about female politicians and viewedthem as not significantly better than male politicians. The study concludes thatthe matrilineal structure of West Sumatran society does not have much impacton women’s political participation and female politicians can benefit byimproving their capabilities in order to win a seat in parliament. Additionally,the Indonesian government might play a role in bridging the gap between lowand high-level political participation by women and develop ways to includeaspects of local culture such as the matrilineal system into its policies that relateto political autonomy at the regional level.

scholarly journals The Cost of Doing Politics? Analyzing Violence and Harassment against Female Politicians

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 740-755 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mona Lena Krook ◽  
Juliana Restrepo Sanín
Keyword(s):  
Gender Bias ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Hate Crimes ◽  
Women In Politics ◽  
Cultural Violence ◽  
Political Roles ◽  
Significant Barrier ◽  
Female Politicians ◽  
The Cost

Violence against women in politics is increasingly recognized around the world as a significant barrier to women’s political participation, following a troubling rise in reports of assault, intimidation, and abuse directed at female politicians. Yet conceptual ambiguities remain as to the exact contours of this phenomenon. In this article, we seek to strengthen its theoretical, empirical, and methodological foundations. We propose that the presence of bias against women in political roles—originating in structural violence, employing cultural violence, and resulting in symbolic violence—distinguishes this phenomenon from other forms of political violence. We identify five types of violence against women in politics—physical, psychological, sexual, economic, and semiotic—and three methodological challenges related to underreporting, comparing men’s and women’s experiences, and intersectionality. Inspired by the literature on hate crimes, we develop an empirical approach for identifying cases of violence against women in politics, offering six criteria to ascertain whether an attack was potentially motivated by gender bias. We apply this framework to analyze three cases: the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, and the murder of Jo Cox. We conclude with the negative implications of violence against women in politics and point to emerging solutions around the globe.

scholarly journals Floating Liberals: Female Politicians, Progressive Politics, and PSI in the 2019 Indonesian Election

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-135
Author(s):  
Amalinda Savirani ◽  
Nuruddin Al Akbar ◽  
Ulya Niami Efrina Jamson ◽  
Listiana Asworo
Keyword(s):  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Campaign Strategies ◽  
Progressive Politics ◽  
Political Role ◽  
Female Candidates ◽  
Women's Equality ◽  
Female Politicians ◽  
The Media ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender

This article analyses an experiment in liberal-progressive politics that occurred in Indonesia in 2019. A new party, the Partai Solidaritas Indonesia (PSI, Indonesian Solidarity Party), supported gender equality as part of a broad liberal programme. PSI foregrounded female candidates and focused on gender issues, including controversial topics such as opposition to polygamy. Reflecting party campaign strategies that focused on media exposure, rather than grassroot mobilisation, the party garnered support mostly from educated urban voters. Support for women’s equality – especially on issues such as sexual harassment and gender-based violence – is concentrated in this group and partly reflects recent cultural shifts linked to globalisation and changes in the media landscape. PSI failed to gain representation in the national legislature, limiting its potential to play a major political role in the near future. Even so, this experiment provided opportunities for young women to step forward politically and has popularised discourse on women’s equality.

Incongruous and illegitimate

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Kuperberg
Keyword(s):  
Women In Politics ◽  
Religious Minority ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
Female Politicians ◽  
Words And Images ◽  
Forms Of Violence ◽  
Political Norms ◽  
Experiences Of Women

Abstract Violence against women in politics encompasses physical, psychological, economic, sexual, and semiotic forms of violence, targeting women because their gender is seen as threatening to hegemonic political norms. Theoretical debates over these categories and empirical applications to global cases often overlook that backgrounds and lived experiences of women in politics can differ considerably. Using the United Kingdom as a case study, in this article I analyze different manifestations of online semiotic violence – violence perpetrated through words and images seeking to render women incompetent and invisible (Krook 2020, 187) – against female, religious-minority politicians. Through a qualitative discursive approach, I identify patterns and strategies of violence in an original dataset of Twitter posts that mention the usernames of seven prominent Muslim and Jewish female politicians. Results show that multiply-marginalized politicians are exposed to both sexist and racist rhetoric online. In this case, semiotic violence functions to render women incompetent using racist disloyalty tropes as well as to render women invisible by invalidating their testimonies of abuse.

Mexico gender equality is elusive despite progress

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Gender Violence ◽  
Women In Politics ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Gender Parity ◽  
Female Politicians ◽  
President Elect ◽  
And Gender

Subject Women in politics. Significance With eight women nominated to the 17-minister cabinet of President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), the incoming National Regeneration Movement (Morena) administration will be Mexico’s most gender balanced ever. Similarly, both chambers of the federal Congress formally established on August 29 have achieved near-gender parity. States and municipalities across the country saw the share of female politicians increase significantly in the July 1 elections. Impacts Gender equality will not be achievable until all states issue laws that define and penalise political violence against women. Efforts to end all forms of political gender violence -- physical, psychological, sexual and economic -- will be required. Indigenous women, facing racial and gender discrimination, will struggle to increase their participation in politics.

Candidate Gender, Behavioral Style, and Willingness to Vote

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (14) ◽  
pp. 1737-1755 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Everitt ◽  
Lisa A. Best ◽  
Derek Gaudet
Keyword(s):  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Nonverbal Cues ◽  
Nonverbal Behaviors ◽  
Behavioral Style ◽  
Female Politicians ◽  
Political Speeches ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Impact ◽  
To Receive

This article explores the impact that women’s and men’s nonverbal forms of communication have on voters’ evaluations of political figures. The results indicate that nonverbal cues employed by female and male politicians during political speeches trigger both leadership and gender stereotypes. Furthermore, these behaviors produce different reactions among male and female viewers. Our results indicate that while female politicians are not generally stereotyped as being less agentic (strong leaders, aggressive, tough, confident, or decisive) than men, when they are observed using agonic (assertive, expressive, or choppy) hand movements, their assessments drop. Men demonstrating the same behavior see their leadership assessments improve. Nonverbal cues have little effect on gender-based stereotypes linked to communal qualities such as being caring, sociable, emotional, sensitive, and family oriented, but do impact willingness to vote for a candidate. Women are more likely to receive votes particularly from male respondents if they are calm and contained. Male candidates are more likely to be supported by both women and men when they communicate using assertive nonverbal behaviors.

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