Abstract

Previous research shows that female politicians receive less media coverage and that articles refer more often to women’s family life, gender, personality, age and appearance. However, most research focuses solely on women as electoral candidates and is limited to campaign periods. Applying a broader timeframe is vital as voters’ perceptions of politicians are mainly constructed during routine periods. And the question arises whether women occupying elite positions in politics encounter the same media bias. This article addresses both shortcomings by conducting a longitudinal quantitative and qualitative content analysis of 4,298 individual mentions of Flemish ministers in 3,528 newspaper articles during three distinct periods of the political cycle. Contrary to the numerical female underrepresentation among candidates, our findings suggest that the media tends to overrepresent female ministers. Furthermore, we notice a strong focus on women’s gender throughout the political cycle and their physical appearance during election periods.