Where are the women? Descriptive representation and COVID-19 in U.K. daily press briefings
Where are the women? Descriptive representation and COVID-19 in U.K. daily press briefings
As governments tackle the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, both the role of women in governments and the specific effect of the pandemic on women have come under scrutiny. This research note examines the descriptive representation of women in the U.K. government's response to the coronavirus. It finds that 43% of the government's daily press briefings featured an all-male lineup with no female politician or expert present. In particular, female politicians are missing, with only one female cabinet member ever leading the briefing. Women's (in)visibility raises concerns about the legitimacy of democratic decisions and likely has policy consequences: women's absence may exacerbate gendered inequalities resulting from the crisis.
British Politics, COVID-19, Descriptive Representation, Substantive Representation
991-1000
Smith, Jessica
96f97364-8922-4e62-8581-0d2983052e20
December 2020
Smith, Jessica
96f97364-8922-4e62-8581-0d2983052e20
Smith, Jessica
(2020)
Where are the women? Descriptive representation and COVID-19 in U.K. daily press briefings.
Politics and Gender, 16 (4), .
(doi:10.1017/S1743923X20000513).
Abstract
As governments tackle the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, both the role of women in governments and the specific effect of the pandemic on women have come under scrutiny. This research note examines the descriptive representation of women in the U.K. government's response to the coronavirus. It finds that 43% of the government's daily press briefings featured an all-male lineup with no female politician or expert present. In particular, female politicians are missing, with only one female cabinet member ever leading the briefing. Women's (in)visibility raises concerns about the legitimacy of democratic decisions and likely has policy consequences: women's absence may exacerbate gendered inequalities resulting from the crisis.
Text
Where are the women descriptive representation and covid19 in uk daily press briefings
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 30 July 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 30 July 2020
Published date: December 2020
Additional Information:
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association.
Keywords:
British Politics, COVID-19, Descriptive Representation, Substantive Representation
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Local EPrints ID: 443919
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/443919
ISSN: 1743-923X
PURE UUID: 85ec3568-9589-4576-9d65-4a3d4ba7996b
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Date deposited: 16 Sep 2020 16:39
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:56
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