Constructing Gender Deviance? Violence Against Women in Politics in Media Coverage of German Women Ministers

Abstract

Despite increased women's political participation, Violence Against Women in Politics (VAWP), a form of gender-based violence (GBV), deters further engagement and gender equal-ity in politics. Former academic work suggests that GBV incidents occur when individuals chal-lenge traditional gender norms. Perceiving people as gender deviants can be seen as stemming from external societal discourse, in which media plays a part. Since media is also ascribed as the fourth power in politics and democratic societies, this thesis explores, by focusing on media coverage of German women ministers, whether and how media discourse portrays women in political leadership roles as challengers of the gender regime and its norms and thus potentially contributes to VAWP. Through Critical Discourse Analysis using Krook’s (2022) Semiotic Vi-olence Approach as guidance, 42 online media articles were examined, revealing a significant prevalence of media evaluation that portrays women ministers as incompetent, untrustworthy, disruptive, and unqualified to mark them as a violation of gender norms. A sexist discourse was evident conveying the indirect message ‘good’ women do not pursue political power, by ques-tioning the women minister’s personalities. Simultaneously, the discourse ascribed German women ministers to a more passive and submissive role in politics, penalizing a display of agency, dominant behavior, and visibility. However, women ministers seem to be tolerated if they work discreetly, not attracting too much attention to their existence and political work, as this is less contrary to the gender regime and its norms.