Level: Grades 10 to 12
Duration: 2 hours (without extension activities)
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Overview
This lesson considers how the media portrays women in politics. Students explore capsule biographies of female political leaders, from ancient times to current events – crafted from snippets of media coverage such as newspapers, magazines, TV news and encyclopedias – to understand bias in how female politicians are portrayed. Based on this, the class prepares a “portrait of a female politician” – a catalogue of the negative attributes frequently ascribed to women in politics by the media. Looking at this portrait, students are asked to consider which of these would be considered positive or neutral attributes if they were found in a male politician, and discuss how coverage of women in politics could be made less biased. Finally, students are asked to write a biography and position paper for themselves which casts them in a positive and politically active light.
Learning Outcomes
Students will:
- Understand and identify bias
- Analyze gender stereotypes
- Use connotation in writing
- Think of themselves as political agents
Preparation and Materials
Photocopy the following handouts:
Procedure
Bias
Write the word Bias on the board and ask students if they know what it means. Develop a definition that is similar to this one: a view or way of presenting something that is consistently unfair.
Distribute the handout Forms of Bias and review it with the class.
Composite Biographies
Explain that one common form of bias is gender bias, based on whether the subject is a man or a woman. Distribute the handout Profile: Hatshepsut to the class. Explain that it is made up of quoted excerpts from actual print and online articles about the Egyptian pharaoh Hatshepsut. Read through the profile and ask students to watch for examples of gender bias, and then go through it again with the class:
Paragraph one: Hatshepsut’s reign is described as “long and prosperous” only in comparison to other female pharaohs – she is not allowed to “compete” with male pharaohs. She is favourably compared only to the “notorious” Cleopatra – damning with faint praise.
Paragraph two: Hatshepsut is “allowed” to reign – as though she had no influence on it. Her success is attributed to being the daughter of someone important (not who she is, but who her father is – although most male pharaohs got the job the same way), and to stereotypical female qualities like beauty and charisma. She “misled her subjects and the uneducated public” by appealing to religion, although all pharaohs claimed to be gods in human form. Are other, male pharaohs accused of misleading their subjects? Her co-regency is described as “invented” and “fabricated,” although there are many examples of co-regencies throughout history.
Paragraph three: Hatshepsut’s success is attributed to “propaganda,” a term with negative connotations. It is suggested that she was only able to reign because she pretended to be a man. Her success is attributed on her advisors, all men – implying she needed the help of men to succeed. (How often are the advisors of male leaders mentioned in similar profiles?) She is said to have been a good pharaoh “although there were no wars during her reign” – implying that only the conduct of warfare, a traditionally male activity, can be the proof of a good leader; Hatshepsut had to settle for the lesser, feminine goal of “proving her sovereignty” (note the weak language) through trade. Finally, it’s suggested that her reign was “inappropriate,” presumably because she was a woman. (No other reason for her removal from the king lists – such as her successor’s hatred of her for delaying his rise to the throne – is mentioned.)
Distribute the remaining Profiles so that one-third of the class gets each one. Have students go through their profiles and look for evidence of bias; remind students again that these are made up of actual quotes from print, TV and online sources. Once students have finished, have each profile read aloud and have students share and explain the examples of bias they found. Summarize the examples on the board.
Portrait of a Female Politician
Have students (either alone, in pairs or in small groups) develop a composite “portrait of a female politician,” collecting all of the qualities ascribed to the women in the profiles. (For instance, Hatshepsut could be described as passive, charismatic, attractive, unprincipled, manipulative, illegitimate, dishonest, needing guidance and weak based on the examples above). Go through the composite portrait and ask which qualities might be considered positive in a male politician (a female politician described as “charismatic” is seen as trading on her looks; a male politician described the same way could be seen as succeeding by force of personality).
Ask students if they think it is unavoidable for media coverage of female politicians to be biased in this way. Are different sources (TV news, newspapers, blogs, etc.) more or less likely to be biased? Are women more evenhanded when writing about female politicians than men are? Would coverage of female politicians be more fair if more journalists (and editors, producers and media owners) were women? Why or why not? Discuss ways in which media coverage could be made less biased. Position Paper
Tell students to think about how they would present themselves if they were running for office or trying to organize a political cause. Ask them to consider what aspects of their own histories, personalities or opinions could be presented in a positive way to make them seem like a good leader or politician.
Have students write a brief (1-2 pages) biography and/or position paper (a summary of their political views) in which they present themselves as political agents.
Extension Activity #1: Who Makes the News?
Have students read pages 4 to 7 of the Global Media Monitoring Project 2005 report on women in the news in the United States (http://www.whomakesthenews.org/images/stories/website/gmmp_reports/
2005/gmmp-report-en-2005.pdf) and answer the following questions:
- How many news reporters were male and how many were female?
- How many subjects of news stories were male and how many were female?
- Why do you think the ratio of male to female reporters is so different from the ratio of male to female subjects of stories?
- What were the most common topics of stories that female reporters covered?
- Do you think the data would be any different for male reporters? Why or why not?
- What were the most common topics of stories with female subjects?
- Do you think the data would be any different for male subjects? Why or why not?
Have students select a news program to watch at home, or else assign programs for students to watch, to get a “snapshot” of gender in the news today. Each student should watch for and record:
- the number of male and female presenters
- the topics of the stories presented by the male presenters
- the topics of the stories presented by the female presenters
- the number of male and female subjects of news stories (mention that stories may have more than one subject, and some stories will not have a human subject)
- the topics of the stories with male subjects
- the topics of the stories with female subjects
- the number of stories that show women or men in a stereotyped way according to their gender (you may wish to review the concept of gender stereotypes)
- the number of stories that show women or men in a way that challenges gender stereotypes
- the number of subjects portrayed as victims and whether they were male or female
Have students write their findings on a piece of chart paper and post it on the board. How similar is the class’s “snapshot” to the Global Media Monitoring Project report?
Have students answer questions 1-7 above about their “snapshot.”
Extension Activity #2: Uncovering the Coverage
Have students read the article “Uncovering the Coverage: Gender Biases in Canadian Political Reporting” by Joanna Everitt, PhD, and answer the following questions:
- What is the difference between conscious and unconscious bias?
- Why does Everitt see unconscious bias as more of a problem in press coverage of female politicians?
- According to Everitt, how do news outlets (newspapers, TV news, etc.) appeal to their audiences? How does this affect their coverage of female politicians?
- Politics is frequently described in the news using metaphors. What metaphors for politics does Everitt’s article discuss, and how do they affect coverage of female politicians?
- According to Everitt, how does the news media communicate the message that women “just do not belong in the political world”?
- Scan the political news in several Canadian newspapers, paying particular attention to headlines and the first paragraph of each article. Do you find that Everitt’s conclusions hold true?
- Everitt concludes that female politicians are “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” by the news media. Can you imagine any changes that might be made to news coverage of politics or to the Canadian political system that would improve conditions for women in politics?
Extension Activity #3: Women Writing About Women
Note: This activity is only possible with Internet-connected computers. Media Awareness Network does not have and cannot grant permission to reprint the articles linked to below.
Have students read the following articles (students may be assigned a single article to read, with half of the class reading one and the other half of the class reading the other, or students may be asked to read both articles):
Have students identify any examples of bias they find in either article.
Have students compare their findings. Was either article more or less biased than the other? Were different forms of bias used in one article than in the other?
