Article published in:
The Mediated Communication of Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary PoliticsEdited by Angela Smith and Michael Higgins
[Journal of Language and Politics 19:1] 2020
► pp. 125–143
Gender matters in questioning presidents
Steven E. Clayman | University of California, Los Angeles
John Heritage | University of California, Los Angeles
Amelia M. J. Hill | University of California, Los Angeles
This paper traces the increasing prominence of women in the White House press corps over the latter half of the
20th century, and considers how this trend toward greater gender balance has impacted the questioning of
presidents. Modest gender differences are documented in the topical content of questions, with women journalists slightly favoring
domestic policy and private-sphere topics relative to men. More substantial differences are documented in aggressiveness, with
women journalists asking more adversarial questions, and more assertive questions at least in the earlier years of the sampling
period. The topical content differences are broadly aligned with traditional conceptions of gender, but the stronger differences
in aggressiveness run contrary to such conceptions.
Keywords: Gender, gender roles, sex roles, presidents, news conferences, press conferences, journalism, questions
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Data and methodology
- 3.The feminization of the president’s questioners
- 4.Topical content of questions
- 5.Adversarial questioning
- 6.Assertive questioning
- 7.Discussion
- Note
-
References
Published online: 15 January 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.19087.cla
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.19087.cla
References
Alfahad, Abdulrahman
Armstrong, C. L.
Beam, R. A., & Di Cicco, D. T.
Benson, Rodney
Cann, David J. and Philip B. Mohr
Clayman, Steven E., Marc N. Elliott, John Heritage, and Laurie McDonald
Clayman, Steven E., John Heritage, Marc N. Elliott, and Laurie McDonald
Clayman, Steven E., Marc Elliott, John Heritage, Megan Beckett
Clayman, Steven E.
Correa, T., & Harp, D.
Craft, S., & Wanta, W.
D’Alessio, Dave and Mike Allen
Desmond, R. & A. Danilewicz
Ekström, Mats, Göran Eriksson, Bengt Johansson, and Patrik Wikström
Ekström, Mats and Marianna Patrona
Hanitzsch, T., & Hanusch, F.
Heritage, John
Heritage, John and Steven E. Clayman
Hochschild, Arlie
Huls, Erica and Jasper Varwijk
Kanter, Rosabeth Moss
Komarovsky, Mirra
Meeks, Lindsey
Schudson, Michael
Sherman, Susan R. and Aaron Rosenblatt
Tolson, Andrew
Weaver, David H., Lars Willnat, and G. Cleveland Wilhoit
Williams, Bruce A. and Michael X. Delli Carpini
Zeldes, Geri Alumit and Frederick Fico
Zeldes, Geri Alumit, Frederick Fico, and Arvind Diddi
Cited by
Cited by 1 other publications
Clayman, Steven E. & John Heritage
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 19 april 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.