Women in contemporary political series: A shared geography of their presence in the public sphere?

Abstract

There are currently a large number of television series which focus on politics in the Western world. Most of these shows present a fictionalized account of politics in the local region or country. Using the Hallin and Mancini model (2004, 2012) as a starting point, this paper discusses the validity of a thematic geographic map for political shows, and correlates the map with the way female characters are represented. A thematic analysis of six series allows the researchers to observe whether or not internationally-produced series on political themes try to give greater importance to female characters in an attempt to overcome gender stereotyping. The results of this observation point to the continued existence of female characters appearing more in the private sphere than the public one. There are, however, differences between the television series that can be connected to the geographic location where they were produced.