Describing Female Politicians

The Times August 2016

Words the media uses to describe female politicians that we’d never use for men

With Theresa May as the UK’s second female prime minister and Hillary Clinton as the

Democratic presidential nominee, you’re likely to see a lot of adjectives being used a lot more. It’s fairly well documented that we in the media use slightly different language for men than we do for women.

Here’s a rundown of some words you may see used a little more in subheadlines, intros and tweets.

‘Self-contained’Used recently to describe Theresa May in contrast to David Cameron, the odds are if you were describing a man, you’d use a word that plays the trait to an advantage, say

‘pensive’ or ‘reserved’.

‘Bloody difficult’The phrase recently repeated off-camera on a microphone by Ken Clarke has been used repeatedly to describe Theresa May over the years.You’re far more likely to find it used in conjunction with her than male politicians such as Cameron, Johnson, Hunt or Gove, who would more likely be described as strong-willed.

‘Feisty’Bar one use in the Spectator to describe David Cameron, this word is almost exclusively used by mainstream media to describe female politicians,

Read the first part of the article and check your ideas.

What percentage of politicians in your country are women? Do you think female politicians are looked on differently by the public and media? If so, in what ways?

Discuss these questions:What do you think is meant when describing someone as ‘self-contained’ and what word could you use that makes the trait sound more positive?‘Bloody difficult’ has been used repeatedly to describe the UK’s prime minister. How would the same quality in a male politician more likely be described?What does the word ‘feisty’ mean and do you think it is used more to describe male or female politicians?

Margaret Thatcher was described as ‘headstrong’. What would be a more positive-sounding simile?What fact about female politicians’ personal lives is often mentioned, but rarely commented on when talking about male politicians?What would be a more positive way of saying ‘sassy’ and ‘bossy’?What do we rarely draw attention to in male politicians, but often describe when talking about female politicians?

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implying a show of strength should be diminished as playful, rather than be considered a force.

‘Headstrong’David Cameron, in his tribute to Margaret Thatcher, read aloud words from ICI after rejecting her job application: ‘This woman is headstrong, obstinate and dangerously self-opinionated.’ Mr Speaker, even her closest friends

would agree she could be all those things, but the point is this: she used that conviction and resolve in the service of her country and we are the better for it. Good similes are “determined” or “assured”.

‘Mother’When was the last time you read that a male politician is a father to X number of children in a news article? The ability of politicians to procreate has no bearing on their job and shouldn’t be a factor. We never read ‘working dad’ David Cameron, so why do we find ‘working mom’ or ‘mother to…’ when reading about female politicians?

‘Sassy’Much the same as ‘feisty’, or

‘pushy’, or ‘emotional’. They all fall into roughly the same camp of diminishment and are used far more to describe women than they are to describe men. How about ‘commanding’ or ‘passionate’?

‘Bossy’Do you mean authoritative? We think you mean authoritative.

‘Glamorous’We can’t resist describing female politicians’ physical appearances while we rarely mention their male counterparts’ looks. They may have bought a new suit, it might be a bit loud, but there is no need to describe it unless you are going to do the same for the men.

Does the media behave in the same way in your country?

Think of a female and male politician from your country that you like and make a list of five adjectives to describe them. Then do the same for two politicians that you do not like. Do the adjectives you use differ for the female and male politicians?

self-contained pensive reserved bloody difficultstrong-willed feisty headstrong obstinate self-opinionated determined assured sassypushy emotional commanding passionatebossy authoritative glamorous

Look at these adjectives mentioned in the article and explain what they mean. Then choose politicians from your country that the adjectives apply to.

Which of the adjectives do you think are the most admirable and necessary in a politician?

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Look at this extract from the article:

The Times August 2016

...if you were describing a man, you’d use a word that plays the trait to an advantage...

This is an example of the past continuous subjunctive being used in the if-clause of a sentence in the second conditional to express an unreal action in the present.

1 We chose a room with uniquely beautiful views of the city.

2 I would like to ask Tom what his opinion is, but he is away.

3 I’m not going to the beach because it is not sunny.

4 We hoped to go windsurfing, but there is not enough wind.

5 The children’s shouting really makes me stressed.

Write sentences using the past continuous subjunctive based on these prompts:

e.g. We planned to have lunch outside, but it is raining. > If it wasn’t raining, we would have lunch outside.

Write sentences of your own using the past continuous subjunctive.

e.g. If I weren’t working such long hours, I’d spend more time on my hobbies.

If they were voting again, many Brexiteers would vote to remain in the EU.

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What have we done?

1 If we were staying in another room, we wouldn’t have such great views of the city.2 If Tom were sitting here, I would ask him his opinion.3 If the sun were shining, I would go to the beach.4 We would be able to go windsurfing if the wind were blowing.5 If the children weren’t shouting all the time, I wouldn’t feel so stressed.

Write sentences using the past continuous subjunctive based on these prompts:

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student pages 3Teacher’s notes 1 intermediate+ (B1+)week of 12.09.16

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