Representation of Yolanda Díaz’s Female Political Leadership in abc.es and elpais.com: Few Gender Stereotypes, but Implicit Biases and Prejudices Persist

Abstract

Introduction: Feminism is a political theory and practice articulated by women who after analyzing the reality in which they live become aware of the discriminations they suffer for the sole reason of being women and decide to organize to put an end to them, to change society (Wollstonecraft, 2013, 14). Since 1984, research has been carried out on female political leadership, the results of which are hardly surprising: low representation of women compared to men, images and texts that reinforce the traditional and stereotyped role of women and the absence of alternative models, but existing in Spanish society" (Viladot i Presas, 2008). Objectives: This research aims to find out whether the media have evolved in their dissemination of female leadership and whether ideology influences the way they reflect it. Based on a monitoring of the representation of the role of Yolanda Díaz, vice-president of the Government and presidential candidate for Sumar, in two Spanish digital media of different positions (abc.es and elpaís.com), we will analyze if there is gender inequality in the information in which she appears as a protagonist, if there is abuse of misunderstandings and prejudices and if stereotypes are reinforced or not. Methodology: An analysis of the discourse in the information that appeared during four months was carried out using a table of our own elaboration with variables based on the study of Gárces Ortíz et al., 2019, 48. : The research shows that the gender inequality gap in the political sphere shown by the media is being solved, that women appear with the role of protagonist when they have it, regardless of the ideology of the media, although the stereotypes found differ between the two newspapers. In abc.es they focus on highlighting transgressive behavior or social relations and in elpais.com they concentrate on intellectual capacity.