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Gender, Ideology, and the Mediation of Political Leadership: The Case of the 2022 French Presidential Campaign

par Deswert, Clémence
Président du jury Vandeleene, Audrey
Promoteur Close, Caroline
Publication Non publié, 2026-04-23

Thèse de doctorat

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Résumé :

Gender and politics scholarship has shown how news media (re)produce gendered norms of political leadership in their coverage of electoral campaigns. However, we still know relatively little about the conditions under which gendered mediation occurs. In addition, gendered mediation studies often overlook politicians’ ideological diversity. This dissertation addresses these gaps by analyzing how factors related to the news media and news content, as well as candidates’ ideological affiliation, shape women and men candidates’ visibility and leadership coverage in the press. Using the 2022 French presidential election as a case study, the research draws on an original dataset of 3,040 news articles published in the national press prior to the first round. The findings show that media outlets’ ideological leaning, publication frequency, and journalists’ gender do not significantly affect the relative visibility of women and men candidates. Women candidates are less likely to appear in editorials and in issue-framed articles. The press predominantly evaluates candidates through stereotypically masculine leadership traits and frequently relies on masculine language and metaphors, regardless of outlets’ ideological leaning or the type of campaign event covered. At the same time, women candidates’ leadership is, on average, evaluated more positively than that of men. This positive bias is dimension-specific and primarily driven by favorable evaluations of women’s responsiveness. Candidates’ ideological affiliation matters, both independently and in interaction with gender. Women candidates are more likely than men to have their vigorousness (e.g., combativeness, determination, aggressiveness) scrutinized – an effect that does not extend to the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen. Overall, the findings call for greater attention to the subtle forms of gendered mediation that may sustain the marginalization of women politicians in leadership positions, to the role of journalistic practices in this process, and to the need to better understand why women of different ideological tendencies are more or less exposed to gendered coverage.