The coming minister of Justice, Ms. Lene Espersen, was at that moment a very ambitious young female politician and her party had just appointed her to an important position as political spokesman of the party.

So now the reporter wanted to do an interview with her about her political visions. It was a good interview, she recalls, they had an interesting conversation about values and her political programme. So when Ms. Espersen opened the newspaper the next day to read the interview she got very surprised.

 

This is what the male reporter wrote:

“Are you going to touch her tits then?” asked my Mrs. as the last thing before I left home on that rainy Monday morning. “Never,” I answered a little too fast. “Never ever. This is modern, strictly professional journalism at top level.” Even though the last bit may have seemed a little exaggerated, it really wasn’t just blather when we finally reached Ms. Espersen’s office. Of course it wasn’t. It’s just sort of become the conservative politician’s entrance to the general public. Ms. Espersen has become rather identical with her boobs.”

 

It is very hard – if not impossible – to imagine a reporter writing a similar piece on a male politician saying that Mr. Espersen has become rather identical with his penis. But unfortunately this is not the case when it comes to female politicians. This is basically the overall conclusion of the Danish research on the portrayal of female politicians in the Danish media.

 

The Danish research has four elements:

- We did an analysis on the media coverage of female politicians in the Danish newspapers from the last 10 years;

- We did in-depth interviews with high level female politicians about their personal experiences with media;

- We did in-depth interviews with media experts from the Danish media about how gender influences the coverage of politicians;

- And we did a survey among the majority of female politicians in the national parliament about their opinion and experiences with media.

 

When you start looking through articles written about Danish female politicians it becomes very clear that journalists very often use stereotypes in order to portray them.

 

A classical image in the Danish press is the image of The Mother.

 

Danish journalists simply love when a young female politician agrees to do an interview about her kids, her family and how she manages to combine family life with her political career. They hardly ever do these stories about male politicians. And this is also why female politicians have an advantage. If they agree to share their experiences being a mother and career women at the same time they can get almost instant access to publicity.

 

Another classical image in the Danish press is the image of the blue-eyed blondes. This is not a very positive image, since in Danish culture being a blond woman implies that you are not too smart, and since being blue-eyed literary means being a little stupid and naïve. And this stereotype is exactly what the journalists intend to awake in the minds of the public when they portray a female politician within this image. I will give you an example from an article about a young woman who is a former minister and now the vice-president of the Danish labour party:

 

 

It is important to stress that these quotes are NOT from gossip-pages in magazines but they are actually taken from serious articles and political analyses from respected newspapers.

 

A less frequent image is the image of The Teacher and this is an image that is being used mainly on elder female politicians, who are perceived as being very serious, ambitious and intelligent. That goes for a very respected female politician, Ms. Jelved, who is around 60, the chairman of her party and who – according to the media – could actually end up becoming Denmark’s first female prime minister. The Danish media often describes her as The Teacher – a character who is not very ‘soft’ or ‘feminine’ but very strict, without much sense of humour - and a little frightening. This is for example what one newspaper wrote about her:

 

 

Ms. Jelved is frightening to many a male journalist and political reporter, and the media tried already a couple of times to get her out of her powerful position but running stories about her age saying that now she is too old to continue, she should leave her position for the young generation to take over etc etc. She has also been labelled the Danish Iron Lady – our very own Margaret Thatcher who in cold blood uses her powerful handbag to hit all her male opponents.

 

Another frightening female figure is The Witch.

 

Several leading female politicians have had this image in the media. In Denmark we have a tradition each June to celebrate the Midsummer, where we make bonfires in the evening, sing songs and prominent public persons makes speeches. It is also a tradition to place a wooden doll at the bonfire – it is the Midsummer Witch – and watch it while burning away. This is a ritual symbolising the transition from one time of year to the other by burning away all evil. Well imagine what this occasion is sometimes being used for in the Danish media when it comes to powerful female politicians who are a little frightening. This is what one newspaper wrote on Midsummer Eve about an elder female politician who is not very popular:

 

 

Maybe it is not very positive to be a Witch but at least witches have passions. This is not the case for Ice Queens. The Ice Queen is an image that has existed in Danish political reporting for several years. It began in the 1970’es when young self assured women entered the parliament for the first time – the earth quake I was talking about yesterday. Some of these young women were very attractive but they refused to play the role as attractive females rather than politicians. As a result journalists started calling them Ice Queens, implying that they were cold, heartless women who had sold out of their womanhood in order to get power. If they did not have any children it was even worse. Today we still have Ice Queens in the parliament.

 

While elder female politicians are portrayed as teachers and witches young female politicians face the image of The Chit. The Chit is an image of a very girlish woman who is a little naïve and inexperienced, so we will just have to wait some years for her to be become smarter. It is not unusual that the Chits are the same women who are the blue-eyed blondes. Ms. Bundsgaard, the young former minister I mentioned earlier, is an example. Two years ago she lay out a political proposition, and this is how one newspaper explained why one should go against her proposition:

 

 

 

When speaking about female images it is no surprise that another stereotype of female politicians in the Danish media is that of The Seductress. I think this example of how a newspaper describes the career of one female politician speaks for itself:

 

 

While some female politicians are too sweet and attractive others are not. They simply lack beauty in order to get a powerful position. This is the sad destiny of the image of The Old Maid. She is somebody almost without sexuality.

 

 

Finally there is the image of the Media Tart.

These are female politicians that the journalists think are too concerned about getting publicity. It is okay to give an interview about your children, your career or which clothes you prefer but you are not supposed to be too offensive. Then journalists tend to interpret you are being somebody who prostitutes herself in order to access the media.

 

Stereotypes is in other words very present in Danish political reporting. And the female politicians know it. As I told you yesterday, Danish female politicians are quite satiesfied with their professional situation when speaking about the daily work in the parliament and within their parties but when it comes to the media, most of the politicians believe, that gender plays a huge role.

 

In our survey among the female politicians in parliament we also asked them about media. The majority of the female politicians do not believe they are treated the same way as their male colleagues in media.  They think they need to make more of an effort than men do in order to get credit for their political work in the media. This is the belief among nearly three out of four politicians. They say that media seek different things when dealing with male and female politicians – for example they are not concerned with male politicians family life, cloth, hairstyle etc. They also think that age is just as important as gender in media. This means, they explain, that if you are a young woman you can easily get attention from the media especially if you want to share your personal and private life with the public, and if you are an elder woman it is harder to get the media’s attention. On the other hand being a young woman is not always an advantage since journalists question the experience and professionalism more.

 

So why is gender such an issue in Danish political reporting? Well first of all it has to do with the importance of image, says one media expert, Mr. Qvortrup, who has a long career as political reporter, editor-in-chief and spin doctor for the current Danish prime minister.

 

Today the differences between the political parties have blurred, so it has become very important how you present yourself as an individual politician. At the same time people are becoming increasingly interested in professional politicians private lives. Being a female politician in this sense is somewhat tricky, since women traditionally represent the private sphere. This is why it is much more interesting to hear about a female politicians private life than a male politician. For journalists it seems more legitimate to ask a female politician about her children and family than a male politician – and to frame female politicians in a gendered way.

 

Also it is a very easy story to do. If a journalist with a tight deadline has to a portrait of a female politician the easy way to do it is to a story about her as a woman, a mother etc. It is easy because you know people will find that interesting and you editor will find it interesting and you do not risk provoking existing norms within the culture of journalism by doing so.

 

The female politicians are not naïve. They know the rules of the game. And some of them accept to participate in stories using female stereotypes – for example showing cloth or family to the public.

More than every fourth female politician say in our survey that they have used their gender in the media. They have used it in order to get attention:

 

 

But the women who do so – and others as well - pay the prize. Being a female politician in Denmark is an eternal battle on an invisible chalk line between proper and improper behaviour. You are expected to be feminine – but not too feminine because then you loose professional credibility. You are expected to be intelligent and competent but not to much because then you will be perceived as either masculine, cold hearted and without womanhood. It is necessary to be good looking in order to get powerful positions but you cannot be too good looking because then people will suspect that you are not too smart. 

 

This portrait from a newspaper of a brand new minister of culture in Denmark illustrates the chalk line:

 

 

Danish research has shown that gender does make a difference when media portray Danish female politicians.

Female politicians can have positive publicity by virtue of just being women, when they become mothers or have been appointed political leading posts where the media would like a story dealing with “how do you handle both a career and a family”.

 

All this is a kind of publicity male politicians in general never have or have access to – just because they are men.

 

But in reverse, the Danish female politicians also experience negative attention and being described by gender specific images and stereotypes, which would be almost inconceivable to their male colleagues. Even though we had quite a few earthquakes in Denmark when talking about women and governance we are still waiting for them in the Danish media. The way the media portrays women  expresses what we consider being a real politician or a real minister. And the prototype of a politician is still a man.

 

 

Thank you