Navigating Gendered Terrain

Stereotypes and Strategy in Political Campaigns

Kelly Dittmar

• Publisher: Temple University Press
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781439911501
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

From the presidential level down, men and women who run for political office confront different electoral realities. In her probing study, Navigating Gendered Terrain, Kelly Dittmar investigates how gender influences the campaign strategy and behavior of candidates today. Concurrently, she shows how candidates' strategic and tactical decisions can influence the gendered nature of campaign institutions. Navigating Gendered Terrain addresses how gender is used to shape how campaigns are waged by influencing insider perceptions of and decisions about effective campaign messages, images, and tactics within party and political contexts. Dittmar uses survey information and interviews with candidates, political consultants, and other campaign professionals to reveal how gender-informed advertising, websites, and overall presentation to voters respond to stereotypes and perceptions of female and male candidates.She closes her book by offering a feminist interpretation of women as candidates and explaining how the unintended outcomes of political campaigns reinforce prevailing ideas about gender and candidacy.

Table of contents

• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Campaigns as Gendered Institutions
• 2. Consultant Perceptions of Voters’ Gender Stereotypes
• 3. Consultant Perceptions of Effective Strategies
• 4. Gender in Context
• 5. Gender Dynamics in Image and Message Creation
• 6. Targeting Women Voters and Contrasting Opponents
• 7. On Her Own Terms: Shifting Gender Dynamics in Campaign Institutions
• Appendix A: Interview List
• Appendix B: Gubernatorial and U.S. Senate Contests Included in Interview Analysis of 2008 and 2010 Elections
• Notes
• References
• Index