Gender, Political Rhetoric, and Moral Metaphors in State of the City Addresses (original) (raw)

Gender, Aphorisms, and Moral Metaphors in Political Speeches

IJMRAP, 2023

This study examined the aphorisms and moral metaphors employed in the selected speeches of two political leaders in Basilan Province, Philippinesone male and one femalefollowing Den Hartog and Verburg (1997) classification of techniques in analyzing aphorisms and the Nation-as-Family framework of George Lakoff (2002), specifically the categories stipulated in the studies of Moses and Gonzales (2015) and Wolters (2012). The results show that the female political leader used more aphorisms and Nurturant Parent Metaphors are more apparent in her speeches. On the other hand, the male political leader employed more Strict Father Metaphors in his speeches. Thus, it was found that gender significantly differentiates the utilization of the rhetorical devices analyzed. Overall, the results provide a new perspective on how political leaders are able to shape policy agenda and political rhetoric in their constituents. The paper further recommends that future research endeavors in the study of rhetoric might include more speeches from a randomized number of male and female political leaders, and evaluate more political issues to examine whether they influence the frames used in the speeches.

Governing Codes: Gender, Metaphor, and Political Identity

Politics & Gender, 2006

Fortunately, in the last 20 years, the scholarship on women in politics has grown considerably, as have the number of women running for office, the number of women holding office, and thus the amount of data, artifacts, contexts, and situations to be analyzed. Karrin Vasby Anderson and Kristina Horn Sheeler, in Governing Codes, offer a solid, interesting, and insightful addition to this growing line of work. With the presentation of four intriguing case studies, the authors provide a rich and informative analysis from a revealing vantage point-the use of metaphor-to uncover what remains the frustrating and challenging language that four credible and politically astute women had to overcome, as well as some of the rhetorical strategies they successfully employed in doing so. In Governing Codes, Anderson and Sheeler offer sound case studies that focus on four prominent female politicians: Ann Richards, Christine Todd Whitman, Hillary Clinton, and Elizabeth Dole. The authors seek to balance their study by party-two Democrats and two Republicans, as well as by experience: Two of the women were elected to their state's executive post (Richards, Whitman) and two women were spotlighted on the public stage as political spouses before moving successfully into the role of candidate in a nationally covered U.S. Senate race (Clinton, Dole). The authors begin by building a framework that represents common, public sphere narratives about women, women as candidates, and women as officeholders. These common narratives include those of pioneer, puppet, hostess/beauty queen, and unruly woman. Although the development of these four lenses is well grounded and evidenced, one is left wondering if any positive narratives exist. Each common narrative is fundamentally detrimental, including the pioneer metaphor. Although that particular frame initially offers positive connotations, it also contains a selfish twist. For instance, the authors argue that a pioneer is a "trailblazer or groundbreaker," one possessing "determination, practical wisdom, perseverance, and hard work" (p. 14), a politician who can relate to the

Gendered voices: rhetorical agency and the political career of Hillary Rodham Clinton

2012

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton"s public life represents a specific moment when a generation of women started to materially symbolize the progress made by feminist activists. Because of the struggles of previous reformers, Rodham Clinton was able to serve as a corporate lawyer, a First Lady of the United States, a health care reformer, a foreign diplomat, a candidate, a U.S. Senator, and a presidential front-runner. She is also the third woman to hold the post of U.S. Secretary of State. Rodham Clinton has a public resume unmatched by any political woman, but her success has also made her the victim of misogynistic symbolic violence. She is the most (mis)interpreted figure in U.S. politics. This project analyzes significant moments of public address in the life of Rodham Clinton. Her career presents transitional spaces from which to understand rhetorical agency, voice, and gender. The chapters cover: (1) Rodham Clinton"s speeches promoting the 1993 Clinton healthcare reform, (2) Rodham Clinton"s U.N. address in Beijing China, (3) Rodham Clinton"s 1996 Democratic National Convention Address, (4) a collection of speeches that Rodham Clinton offered on the 2002 Iraq conflict, (5) Rodham Clinton"s presidential campaign rhetoric, and (6) Rodham Clinton"s 2008 Democratic National Convention Address.

The role of a gendered policy agenda in closing the mayoral ambition gap : The case of Texas female city council members

2016

This study explores female city council member political ambition to run for mayor. Women who hold mayoral office are potentially more competitive for higher elected office at the state and federal level. This study is based on a survey sent to Texas city council members in cities over 30,000. Forty-one percent of respondents said they would most likely run for mayor at some point, and we do find a gender gap in ambition (50% of men and 36% of women). However, we find that women who advocated a gendered local government political agenda exhibited higher levels of political ambition compared women who do not, and the ambition gap is reduced significantly. This finding holds up, controlling for other factors suggested by the literature that are predictors of political ambition. Two of these other factors—age and personal support—also increase city council member mayoral ambition. The findings are discussed in terms of strategies to increase female mayoral ambition.

An analysis of the use of metaphors in political rhetoric in local elections

2018

Political discourse has always been more or less ideological, since ideology is inseparable from discourse and politics. The concepts of nation and the national are a part of every ideology. This article studies the synergy between political communication about nation and national and discourse structure through the use of metaphors of personifi cation and argumentation in constructing political identities in the selected politicians’ statements during the local elections of 2016 and 2017 in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. Therefore, the paper studies which argumentative and metaphorical frameworks politicians in Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina use with regard to their own countries and/or the neighbouring countries. The research was focused on studying the metaphor state as person in the argumentation of the selected Croatian, Serbian and Bosnian-Herzegovinian politicians in the political television show Pressing, which is broadcast on N1 television in all th...

Cross-situational Consistency of Female Politicians’ Language Use

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics

This article seeks to study political discourses of American female politicians, specifically Madeleine Albright, the first female United States Secretary of State in the history of the United States of America, from 1997 to 2001, Condoleezza Rice, the 66th United States Secretary of State, and Hillary Clinton, the 67th United States Secretary of State. Different in age, ethnicity, political views, educational and social backgrounds, they reveal that in order to succeed in the political arena, women are bound to hide their female personality. Examples in question are Madeline Albright and Condoleezza Rice, recurrent users of such male discursive features as rhetorical questions, logical order of arguments, conceptual metaphors of war, sports, and hunting. Gender-marked female discourse is characterized by hesitation, use of standard speech, cognitive, social words, and hedges. Research shows that Hilary Clinton is a typical example of the female-marked political discourse. This has ...

Conceptual metaphor in Michelle Obama's 2012 re-election speeches

The Journal of English Studies, 2014

espanolEn su discurso de aceptacion tras su reeleccion como Presidente de los Estados Unidos de 7 de noviembre de 2012, Barack Obama agradecia a la Primera Dama su apoyo incondicional. La prensa internacional se hacia eco de hasta que punto la afirmacion traspasaba el plano de lo personal y la mera formula protocolaria, dada la gran implicacion activa de Michelle Obama, considerada como un factor decisivo dentro de un complicado marco electoral. Nuestro proposito es el estudio de las claves de su diversificada estrategia en los discursos para la campana de las elecciones presidenciales de Estados Unidos de 2012, que se comparan con los de su marido y otras influencias directas. El analisis del lenguaje figurado persuasivo del corpus compuesto por los discursos pronunciados en los cuatro ultimos meses de la campana, bajo las premisas de los enfoques de Lakoff y Johnson (1980) y Charteris-Black (2004), pretende desentranar sus herramientas de persuasion. EnglishOn November 7lh 2012, a...

The use of gendered language in speeches made by Trump and Clinton adhered to stereotypes of the roles of male and female leaders

2017

Speeches delivered by Donald J. Trump and Hillary Rodham Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign contained many uses of gendered language. David McGuire, Abbi MacKenzie and Heather Kissack evaluate the use of first person singular pronouns, anger, swear words, cognitive language and tentative wording to develop an insight into how both candidates delivered important messages and framed their public persona. They also find that the choice of language and speech patterns was affected by wider stereotypical beliefs in relation to the role and disposition of male and female leaders.

Feminist Rhetoric in Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s Discourse

Professional Communication and Translation Studies

November 8, 2016, marked the beginning of a new era in the American political setting. The Obama era was known as a period of great opening, minority friendly approach and liberal vision. Of the two candidates that were running for office in 2016, Hillary Clinton seemed to have the most similar approach to the now former president of the USA, Barack Obama; Clinton was framed as the de facto carrier and enforcer of Obama’s legacy. Feminist approaches are not gender determined; Obama himself has made a mark as a feminist leader. Clinton ran for the highest office as a pioneer of women’s representation in politics. The aim of this paper is to discover the similarities between Obama’s discursive style and Hillary’s approach. Through critical discourse analysis, we launch this research in order to emphasize gender negotiations, in terms of both content and style.

The Democratic Sex: Gender Differences and the Exercise of Power

Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, 2006

Few have studied differences between how women and men lead, particularly at the local level. This article addresses this gap by reporting the results of a unique study of 192 female mayors and 192 male mayors in cities with populations of over 30,000 to consider whether the female mayors emphasized different policy issues and whether the women in local leadership created alternative decision-making processes in allocating resources. Overall, the results show similarities on policy issues, the use of power, and budget issues. However, some key gender differences emerge. Female mayors were far more willing to change the budget process, be more inclusive, and seek broader participation. Finally, more women mayors than men were willing to admit fiscal problems and discuss changes in their goals. Women mayors were also more likely than their male counterparts to believe that women face gender-based obstacles in the exercise of leadership.