Martha McSally's Image (Part II): ....and Retaining Femininity

1. I've recently read an article by Sarah J. Gervais and
2. Amy L. Hillar in which they discussed their research comparing Hillary Clinton ans Sarah Palin through the lens of the role congruity theory. They make some interesting points in their article:

• According to role congruity theory, people are evaluated positively when their characteristics are consistent with their social roles. 
• A female leader may experience prejudice because her gender is not consistent with the leader position. She "cannot simultaneously act in ways that are consistent with both the female gender role and the leader role because the roles are contradictory."
• "Women tend to be regarded as either warm or competent, but not both."
• Additionally, women who are less stereotypically feminine are generally seen as competent but cold, whereas women who are more stereotypically feminine are typically seen as warm but incompetent. 

Being among the nation's most successful female politicians, both Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin violate traditional gender roles to some extent. 

Clinton may experience prejudice because she tends to be evaluated as less stereotypically feminine. The image she projects of herself (characteristics and appearance) is more stereotypically masculine. This makes her fitting with the leader role in the eyes of society but means that she violates the "prescriptive norms of the female role." 

To compare, Palin may experience prejudice because she is more stereotypically feminine. Her feminine characteristics are congruent with the female gender role but violate descriptive norms of the leader role. 

The media has a large part in creating these perceptions of both women. For Palin, for example, the media will emphasize her previous participation in beauty pageants and her role as a mother -perpetuating the warm but incompetent stereotype. Clinton, instead, is painted as the “iron maiden” -competent but cold.

Much of Martha's campaign literature illustrates her role as "the first female fighter squadron commander, and the first female to fly in combat" and as the one who "overturned a regulation requiring U.S. service women to wear traditional Muslim garb." This places her under the competent but cold stereotype. To balance her reputation as "that fighter pilot chick," Martha needs to show a more warm and caring side. To this end, much of her social media features her love of dogs. Noah, for example, is a pit-bull she rescued in Texas. She raised the money to fly him out to an animal hospital to treat his injuries.

The intent is to show the public Martha can be a competent, assertive leader as well as retain the caring warm of the female stereotype.

Gender Differences in Media Coverage of Candidates

This past Sunday, Martha performed with the Tucson Girls Chorus at their annual fundraiser, "Duets and Dinner." She sang "Hall of Fame" as part of a trio with two of the girls. 

Before she went up on stage, Martha was mingling with the other attendees. A well meaning supporter told her that she was "actually pretty cute" and that she should put that in her campaign literature.

Historically, there seems to be a trend of voters and media focusing more on a female candidate's gender, personality and appearance rather than the issues at hand (and as mentioned in the last post, issue are also not gender neutral).

"Its maddening," Martha said, frustrated.

For example, when Elizabeth Dole ran in the presidential primary in 1999, the media would often emphasize her gender and refer to her appearance (Clift and Brazaitis 2000). Media coverage about female candidates more often includes discussion on gender, personality and appearances as Johanna Dunaway, an Assistant Professor of Political Science and Mass Communication of Louisiana State University, found in her study on gender differences in media coverage.

Dunaway's team perused 9,725 newspaper articles from 2006 and 2008 Senate and gubernatorial races throughout the country. In races with only male candidates, media coverage emphasized character traits 6 percent of the time and issues 55.5 percent of the time. When only women were running for the office, the articles focused on character traits 9.4 percent of the time and issues 51.7 percent of the time. When both male and female candidates were in the race, traits were focused on 10.8 percent of the time and the issues 53.1 percent of the time.

Martha McSally's Image (Part I): Walking the Line Between Masculine Assertiveness....

Retired Air Force Colonel Martha McSally

The other day, Martha described to me how it is that constituents evaluate their candidates. One of those would be the candidate's stance on issues. The other, and perhaps more significant (especially so for women) would be their perceptions on his or her character, personality, and looks. Society has split character traits between gender archetypes. "More stereotypic “feminine traits” include warmth, compassion, emotionalism, honesty, altruism, and congeniality. More stereotypic “masculine traits” include strength, assertiveness, independence, aggressiveness, and confidence" (Lindsey Meeks , 2012). Studies have continuously shown voters to prefer so called "masculine traits" in their politicians and leaders. This sexism on the part of the voters may account for one possible explanation of the scarcity of women in congress.

Then there's Martha McSally. The image she propriates is very specific. To recap, Martha is a retired United States Air Force Colonel and first woman fighter pilot. Her campaign literature is brimming with her military accomplishments. For example, this snippet from her biography I summarized: 

A campaign pamphlet emphasizing
 Martha McSally's military background.

"In January 1995, Martha flew her first combat mission into while deployed from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. Some years later, Martha was in command of the 354th Fighter Squadron as the first woman in U.S. history to command a combat aviation unit. She led her A-10 team on a combat deployment to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Flying over 225 combat hours during a period of increased combat activity, Martha was awarded a Bronze Star and multiple Air Medals for her combat leadership and performance. Under her command, the 354th Fighter Squadron won the prestigious Air Force Association David C. Schilling Award for the most outstanding contribution in the field of flight in 2006. When she retired as a command pilot it was with over 2600 flight hours, over 325 of those combat hours." 

She very strongly comes off as being strong, independent and assertive -all traditionally considered to be masculine characteristics.

The other side of the coin I mentioned above, is the candidate's stance on issues. As I've mentioned in a previous post, issues are divided between "feminine" and "masculine". Going along with a woman's traditional role as mother and caretaker, feminine issues are more likely to be labeled under domestic affairs such as social welfare, the environment or education, and less so with business, military or foreign policy, which tend to be associated as falling under the male sphere. 

However, one of the main issues Martha is contesting with incumbent Ron Barber over is the A-10, the plane which she flew in Afghanistan. Secretary of Defense Hagel confirmed plans to cut the A-10 Warthog, which is used to protect ground troops. On August 27th, Martha wrote an op-ed to the Arizona Daily Star pointing out that Davis-Monthan is the "home of the A-10", with its main mission revolving around the plane, and that the loss of the plane would risk the $1.6 billion economic impact of the base to our community. On September 1st, Ron Barber stated there is “flat out” no risk to the A-10 in the short term. (An assurance he has since had to rescind). Martha accuses him of not having even realized the intentions to mothball the A-10 though he has been serving in Congress for over 14 months on the Armed Services Committee and representing Davis-Monthan Air Force Base:

"We need someone in DC who understands the value of the A-10 and DM and has a track record of fighting and winning, not talking and losing. Having commanded an A-10 squadron in combat, I am running to bring the experience and leadership we need for this significant issue impacting our country and community."

Them's fighting words!