Gendered Power Relations

Citation:

Rosenwasser, S.M. and Norma Dean. 1989. “Gender Role and Political Office: Effects of Perceived Masculinity/Femininity of Candidate and Political Office.” Psychology of Women Quarterly 13 (1). 

Authors: S.M. Rosenwasser, Norma Dean

Abstract:

Women are less represented in prestigious national political offices than they are in state and local offices. How this underrepresentation may be related to perceived characteristics of office and candidate are explored in the two studies described here. In Study 1, the “masculinity/femininity” of local, state, and national offices was analyzed; all levels of office were rated as more “masculine” than “feminine.” In Study 2, the sex as well as the gender role of a hypothetical presidential candidate was varied. “Masculine” and male candidates were evaluated as being more competent on presidential tasks such as dealing with terrorism; “feminine” and female candidates were rated higher on tasks such as solving problems in our educational system. Men, regardless of gender role, were perceived as being more likely to win a presidential election, and “masculine” tasks were evaluated as being more important than “feminine” presidential tasks. Implications for future female politicians are discussed.

Topics: Gender, Women, Men, Gender Roles, Gendered Discourses, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Elections, Political Participation Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 1989

Citation:

Paul, David and Jessi L. Smith. 2008. “’Subtle Sexism?’: Examining Vote Preferences When Women Run Against Men for the Presidency.” Journal of Women, Politics, and Policy 29 (4): 451-476. 

Authors: David Paul, Jessi L. Smith

Abstract:

This article examines the influence of the gender of presidential candidates on perceptions of candidate qualifications and vote choice through polling data of likely Ohio voters using five candidates: Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Dole, John Edwards, Rudy Giuliani, and John McCain. In its examination, this study better mirrors the real‐world presidential selection process than other studies which use hypothetical or generic candidates. We found that women presidential candidates were viewed as significantly less qualified to be president when compared to male candidates with similar credentials. Although results showed that Democratic women candidates were not at a disadvantage in hypothetical primary nominee match‐ups, evidence of gender bias appeared in general election match‐ups. Candidates who were men beat the women candidates in every general election match‐up, and what is more, voters frequently switched their votes to the candidate who was a man when the opposition candidate was a woman. Implications for women running for president are discussed.

Topics: Gender, Women, Men, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Elections, Political Participation Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2008

Citation:

Norocel, Ov Cristian. 2010. “’Romania Is a Family and It Needs a Strict Father’: Conceptual Metaphors at Work in Radical Right Populist Discourses.” Nationalities Papers 38 (5): 705-721. 

Author: Ov Cristian Norocel

Abstract:

Investigating Romanian radical right populism, I evidence the gendered nature of conceptual metaphors and provide insights on the specific masculinities that they underpin in such political discourses. With the 2004 presidential elections as a backdrop, the analysis focuses on how the radical right populist candidates articulated in their discourses the conceptual metaphor of the “strict father.” At first, the theoretical standpoints on conceptual metaphors are corroborated with the conceptualization of populist charismatic leadership. Subsequently, a gendered perspective is added to the populist conceptualizations. The leaders' self-representation as messianic fathers of the national family is evidenced by investigating their discursive appeals to protect, discipline and punish the people. Furthermore, I elaborate how conceptual metaphors may be employed to consolidate a position of uncontested leadership and moral superiority of the radical right populist leaders.

Topics: Gender, Men, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Discourses, Gendered Power Relations, Masculinism, Governance Regions: Europe, Eastern Europe Countries: Romania

Year: 2010

Citation:

Nicholson, Ian. 2011. “’Shocking’ Masculinity: Stanley Milgram, ‘Obedience to Authority’ and the ‘Crisis of Manhood’ in Cold War America.” Isis 102 (2): 238-68. 

Author: Ian Nicholson

Abstract:

Stanley Milgram's study of “obedience to authority” is one of the best-known psychological experiments of the twentieth century. This essay examines the study's special charisma through a detailed consideration of the intellectual, cultural, and gender contexts of Cold War America. It suggests that Milgram presented not a “timeless” experiment on “human nature” but, rather, a historically contingent, scientifically sanctioned “performance” of American masculinity at a time of heightened male anxiety. The essay argues that this gendered context invested the obedience experiments with an extraordinary plausibility, immediacy, and relevance. Immersed in a discourse of masculinity besieged, many Americans read the obedience experiments not as a fanciful study of laboratory brutality but as confirmation of their worst fears. Milgram's extraordinary success thus lay not in his “discovery” of the fragility of individual conscience but in his theatrical flair for staging culturally relevant masculine performances.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Men, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Violence Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2011

Citation:

Musila, G. 2009. “Phallocracies and Gynocratic Transgressions: Gender, State Power and Kenyan Public Life.” Africa Insight 39 (1). 

Author: G. Musila

Abstract:

This article explores the role of hegemonic masculinities in shaping patterns of authority in Kenya, a context in which state power has historically been framed as a male affair, with the foregrounding of the phallus as a symbol for power and leadership. It argues that, beyond ethnicity and class, gender—and specifically masculinities—provides a compelling lens through which to understand the Kenyan post-election crisis and its attendant elements: the deadlock between Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga; the mobilisation of militaristic masculinities and the violence inflicted on men and women’s bodies during the conflict.

Topics: Class, Gender, Women, Men, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Elections, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Political Participation, Violence Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Kenya

Year: 2009

Citation:

Muhr, S.L and K.R. Sullivan. 2013. “’None So Queer as Folk’: Gendered Expectations and Transgressive Bodies in Leadership.” Leadership 9 (3): 416-35. 

Authors: S.L. Muhr, K.R. Sullivan

Abstract:

Topics: Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Governance, LGBTQ, Sexuality

Year: 2013

Citation:

Miller, Susan L. and Terry G. Lilley. 2014. “Proving Themselves: The Status of LGBQ Police Officers.” Sociology Compass 8 (4): 373-383. 

Authors: Susan L. Miller, Terry G. Lilley

Abstract:

The policing occupation, a bastion of hegemonic masculinity, is well known for its historical resistance to “difference,” whether among its own members or in society at large. Nowhere does this clash manifest as strongly as when LGBQ police officers join the force. LGBQ individuals have made great strides in breaking down some beliefs of the traditional and rigid police occupational culture. Still, more progress remains to be made toward dismantling the barriers of heterosexism and sexism that often permeate policing. This article explores the history of these barriers, the progress made, and the structural and individual level obstacles that remain. Policy recommendations and suggestions for future research are also made.

Topics: Gender, Women, Men, Gendered Power Relations, Masculinism, Governance, LGBTQ, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Sexuality

Year: 2014

Citation:

Messner, Michael A. 2007. “The Masculinity of the Governator: Muscle and Compassion in American Politics.” Gender and Society 21 (4): 461-480. 

Author: Michael Messner

Abstract:

Arnold Schwarzenegger's celebrity status allowed him to project a symbolic masculine persona that was effective in gaining political power as California governor. The well-known violent tough-guy persona that Schwarzenegger developed in the mid-1980s contributed to a post—Vietnam era cultural remasculinization of the American man. But this narrow hypermasculinity was often caricatured in popular culture and delegitimized. In the 1990s and 2000s, Schwarzenegger forged a credible masculine imagery by introducing characters who were humorously self-mocking and focused on care and protection of children. Schwarzenegger's resultant hybrid masculinity, the "Kindergarten Commando," represents an ascendant hegemonic masculinity always foregrounding muscle, toughness, and the threat of violence and following with situationally appropriate symbolic displays of compassion. The equation of toughness plus compassion composing the Kindergarten Commando is asymmetrical, with toughness eclipsing compassion; this has implications for the kinds of policies that U.S. elected leaders advocate. Republicans utilize this masculine imagery in national politics to gain voters' trust in times of fear and insecurity and continue to employ a strategy that projects a devalued feminized stigma onto more liberal candidates.

Topics: Gender, Men, Masculinity/ies, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Governance, Political Participation Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2007

Citation:

Melander, Erik. 2005. “Gender Equality and Intrastate Armed Conflict.” International Studies Quarterly 49 (4): 695-714. 

Author: Erik Melander

Abstract:

In this article, I examine to what extent gender equality is associated with lower levels of intrastate armed conflict. I use three measures of gender equality: (1) a dichotomous indicator of whether the highest leader of a state is a woman; (2) the percentage of women in parliament; and (3) the female-to-male higher education attainment ratio. I argue that the first two measures in particular capture the extent to which women hold positions that allow them to influence matters of war and peace within a state. I further argue that all three measures, but especially the last two, capture how women are valued relative to men in a society, that is, the relative degree of subordination of women. Whereas female state leadership has no statistically significant effect, more equal societies, measured either in terms of female representation in parliament or the ratio of female-to-male higher education attainment, are associated with lower levels of intrastate armed conflict. The pacifying impact of gender equality is not only statistically significant in the presence of a comprehensive set of controls but also is strong in substantive terms.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Education, Gender, Women, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Military Forces & Armed Groups

Year: 2005

Citation:

McCullers, Molly. 2011. “’We Do It So That We Will Be Men’: Masculinity Politics in Colonial Namibia, 1915-1949.” Journal of African History 52 (1): 43-62. 

Author: Molly McCullers

Abstract:

This article examines struggles for masculinity among Herero elders, South African colonial administrators, and the Otruppa, a Herero youth society that appropriated a German military aesthetic, in Namibia between 1915 and 1949. As previous scholars have argued, masculinities are mutually constituted through competitions for authority, though dominance is rarely achieved. Such contestations were integral to processes of Herero societal reconstruction following German rule and during South African colonial state formation, beginning in 1915. Different generational experiences of colonial violence and the destruction of the material resources that undergirded elders' authority led to conflicts between elders and youths over how to define Herero masculinity and negotiate authority in a rapidly changing colonial milieu.

Topics: Age, Youth, Armed Conflict, Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Gender, Boys, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism, Violence Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Namibia

Year: 2011