MPs with Skirts: Or How the Popular Press in Bulgaria Portrays Women Politicians

Authors

  • Elza Nistorova Ibroscheva Southern Illinois University
  • Maria Raicheva-Stover Washburn University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS312009251

Keywords:

gender, media and politics, Eastern Europe

Abstract

This study focuses on how the changes after the fall of the Berlin Wall have affected the presentation of female politicians in Eastern Europe. Textual analysis of top two circulating daily newspapers in Bulgaria, Trud and Standart, was used to examine how female politicians were portrayed during the 2005 parliamentary elections. The analysis indicates that press coverage of female politicians is refracted through the prism of gender stereotypes, which, in turn, exhibits signs of the post-communist masculinization of democracy. What is more, this study found that women politicians as well as the female reporters who cover them willingly partake in the gendered mediation of the Bulgarian female politicians, therefore acting, as Julia Kristeva argued, as the strongest supporters of the existing, albeit oppressive, social order. The overall conclusion is that gendered media portrayals of female politicians lead to the creation of a social climate tolerant towards and perhaps, encouraging, of sexism in all aspects of social life.

Author Biographies

Elza Nistorova Ibroscheva, Southern Illinois University

Ph.D. in Mass Communications and Media Arts Assistant Professor Department of Mass Communications Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, IL 62026 USA

Maria Raicheva-Stover, Washburn University

Ph.D. in Mass Communications and Media Arts Assistant Professor Mass Media Department Washburn University Topeka, KS 66621

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Published

2009-03-23

How to Cite

Ibroscheva, E. N., & Raicheva-Stover, M. (2009). MPs with Skirts: Or How the Popular Press in Bulgaria Portrays Women Politicians. Observatorio (OBS*), 3(1). https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS312009251

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2009)

Section

Articles

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