A Study About Smiling Politicians That Doesn’t Make You Smile

Female political candidates smile more than their male colleagues, Marc Jungblut and Mario Haim show in a new study.

That’s not a problem itself, but the dilemma is if a certain way of presenting yourself is putting you into a box, says Jungblut. This is the “double bind” that female candidates might face: either they are "too" warm and compassionate – typical feminine stereotypes – to be associated with the common traits associated with a strong leader, or they counter these stereotypes – and face a backlash.

A low female representation in the European parliament set off the study of how politicians are depicted – and how they depict themselves – during election season back in 2019. The researchers studied nearly 14.000 candidates in all the 28 European Union member states in search for answers.

The million-dollar question is (and spoiler alert – still unanswered): does the way female politicians are portrayed in media affect how voters see them fit for office?

Keywords: automated content analysis, gender stereotypes, European election, computational vision, visual politics

• The article discussed in this episode

Jungblut, M. & Haim, M. (2021). Visual Gender Stereotyping in Campaign Communication: Evidence on Female and Male Candidate Imagery in 28 Countries. Communication research.

Open access: https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502211023333

• The researcher featured in the episode

Dr. Marc Jungblut is a researcher at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany. His co-author, Dr. Mario Haim, is affiliated with the University of Leipzig.

• How to reach out

For comments, feedback and suggestions on articles for future episodes, please reach out to me on Twitter @rasmuskyllonen or by dropping me a letter at [e-mail]

• About the host

Rasmus is a master’s student at the University of Helsinki, where he is majoring in journalism and communication. Earlier, he has worked as a journalist and graphic designer at various newspapers and magazines. He has also been a teacher in vocational media education.

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