Project Overview and Research Gap

According to calculations by UN Women, gender equality in the highest positions of power will not be reached for another 130 years if the growth of women in executive government positions continues at the same rate (“Facts and Figures: Women’s Leadership and Political Participation.”). Clearly, there is a great discrepancy between the number of women and men in political positions of power, and a number of researchers argue that a heavily contributing factor is the representation of female politicians in the media. There have been a number of clear instances of media bias in the past, such as in Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign against Donald trump for the United States presidency. During this campaign, a number of conservative pundits made overtly sexist remarks about Clinton, such as Rudy Giuliani's claim that Clinton was less fit to be the president because she's a woman, or Rush Limbaugh asking Americans if they wanted to watch a woman get older on a daily basis (Morin) (“Hey Hill: Love Your Hair, Now Iron My Shirt.”). Overtly sexist comments, such as those faced by Clinton are, unfortunately not the only method in which media bias presents itself during political campaigns. Many studies, such as one published in the Xavier Journal of Psychology show that female political candidates receive less substantive coverage then their male counterparts due to traditional gender roles that they are assigned (Ryan 15-23). This means that women are less likely to receive coverage on typically "masculine" issues such as the economy, defence and foreign policy, even though such topics typically make up a majority of news coverage (Ryan 15-23). This bias, whether explicit or implicit, is seen on a number of levels in political journalism and has undeniable impacts on the candidates themselves as it impacts voter perception of female candidates and therefore makes them appear weaker than male counterparts, harming their chances of succeeding in a political setting. Clearly, there has been a significant amount of research on gender media bias and its impacts on political campaigns, however, there is a gap in this research when it comes to the 2024 United States presidential election of Donald Trump versus Kamala Harris. This election received a significant amount of attention on a global scale as the United States is one of the most influential countries in the world, and the election had the possibility to impact a variety of different situations based on its outcome. Since the 2016 election, the political climate of the United States has seen notable change as according to a study in the Political Science Quarterly journal, political polarisation has seen an increase over recent years and continues to do so (Schedler, 335–359). Moreover, according to a report made by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence the COVID-19 pandemic saw a significant shift in the gender climate as fewer women exist in the workforce and those who remained employed make less money on average than their male counterparts (Office of the Director of National Intelligence, "Future of Women’s Rights"). Furthermore, data from the World Economic Forum showed that the global gender gap has actually widened since the year 2017 (Office of the Director of National Intelligence, "Future of Women’s Rights"). This information goes to show that the 2024 election has happened in a unique political environment, different from the 2016 United States presidential election, and therefore research on this topic is different to any prior research on media bias during a presidential campaign. Due to the recent nature of the 2024 election, there has not yet been research into whether gender bias was present, and therefore there is a gap in the research of gendered media bias in political news coverage.