Basic concepts within the theory of gender

Within the cultural parameters that make up the role that society has assigned to women, there are a number of concepts that are essential to understand the position women occupy in the political context. Starting from the general, the concept of sex is a biological question that determines whether a human being is classified as man or woman on the basis of the reproductive organ they possess. Whereas gender is supported by a sociocultural construct, which acquires a category that groups all the psychological, social and cultural aspects of femininity within the historical process of the social construction (^{Santi, 2000}).

In addition, the concept of gender role can be defined as “the set of rules established socially for each sex” (^{Santi, 2000, p. 569}). In society, and according to the patriarchal model that resorts to nature to explain the differences between genders, it is usually pointed out that being a woman implies or means being a mother, wife and housewife. Moreover, these are roles that are played in the family context and they constitute referential frameworks that influence women since their childhood (^{Hinojosa, 2006}).

It should be pointed out that it is within these cultural parameters of gender perspective and representation that the female identity is constructed, since it is difficult for it to create itself. This construction of identities entails considering multiple factors: place of birth, race, the language spoken and the space inhabited. The ways of life shape the identities that, seen from the gender perspective, add one more element to the social context from which individual and collective identities are established (^{Hinojosa, 2006}).

In his book about the political participation of women in an urban movement in Nuevo León, ^{Rangel (2006)} speaks about the distinction mentioned by Rousseau about women’s position between the political and the private space. In this regard, this author pointed out that the woman was to be placed outside the “public domain”. Starting from this precept, the author asks “how can we speak of political equality when the individual personality of women was denied?” (^{Hinojosa, 2006, p. 39}). This way, and facing the same question, the conclusion was reached that the real problem of the scant participation of women in the political sphere was mainly due to their invisibility. In this regard, ^{Rangel Juárez (2015)} points out:

The lack of visibility is above all supported by stereotypes that promote the collective imaginarium of women in their role in society; reducing and subordinating their participation to the few spaces the male hegemony concedes to them as a subordinate gender (p. 9).

In this sense, the phenomenon of stereotypes can be understood within the broad context of categorization (^{Muñiz et al., 2014}). Stereotypes have a basic function for the individual’s socialization: they facilitate social identity and the sense of belonging, since accepting to identify with the dominant stereotypes in a given group is a way of remaining integrated in it (^{Gabaldón, 1999}). Stereotypes are usually defined as “beliefs that are more or less structured on a subject’s mind about a social group” (^{Páez, 2004, p. 760}). That is, they fulfill an important cognitive function for the individual, inasmuch as they are "cognitive structures that contain the subject’s knowledge and beliefs about different social groups" (^{Martínez, 1996, p. 21}).

It must be added that these stereotypes are formed unconsciously by the individuals, due to the fact that social conduct patterns are implanted in the subconscious since childhood and they are reaffirmed over time (^{Beaudoux, 2014b}). However, they can also be eliminated or modified depending on the capacity for conscience, adaptation and dominion an individual has about them. This is due to the fact that, although they are generalizations about the defining characteristics or traits that are perceived to characterize the members of exo-groups, they can change as a result of a process of relation with representatives of these other groups. Within social stereotypes in general, ^{Gabaldón (1999)} points out that gender stereotypes are a subtype, and they can be defined as “beliefs held by consensus about the different characteristics of men and women in our society” (p. 84).

Inequalities of qualities and social status can represent an obstacle in the opportunities for women to gain access to a political career. From the different cultural criteria that have been revealed to shape women’s inequality, the expression “glass ceiling” was coined with the objective of describing that invisible barrier that prevents women’s access to leadership positions, both within the social scale, as executives and as elected officials (^{Beaudoux, 2014b}; ^{Marugán & Durá, 2013}).

However, although in democratic societies such as the Mexican one, in theory the rights and obligations stipulate a principle of equality between men and women, in practice the sense and respect of said theoretical principles is lost. A reality that has posed the need to replace the expression “glass ceiling” by that of “glass labyrinth”, a metaphor that exposes the probability that women may get lost on the intricate roads of a metaphorical place that, even though it has an entrance, it generally presents a very complicated exit (^{Barberá, Ramos& Candela, 2011 cited in Marugán & Durá, 2013}).

The role of the media in the diffusion of stereotypes

Human beings are sociable by nature, that is why it causes them to fall in a process of dependence, not only in their environs but also of the people that surround them (^{Gabaldón, 1999}). However, over time the contexts of dependence have evolved and they are ever more demanding. Socialization, therefore, becomes a key factor in this process, which is in addition different regarding the people’s sex. That is, gender stereotyping will occur, a sort of labels that accompany people due to the mere fact that they belong to one or the other sex (^{Lita & Monferrer, 2007}). Along with the conflict that entails the socialization process that accompanies the individuals, today there is a new challenge to face: the role of the media in the transmission of stereotypes and the generation of prejudices (^{Dixon, 2000}; ^{Muñiz, Serrano, Aguilera & Rodríguez, 2010}; Seiter, 1986). According to ^{Orozco Gómez (1997)}, the media can be defined as:

Languages, metaphors, technological devices, platforms where power is generated, won or lost; they are mediations and mediators, logics, business companies; they are control and social-molding instruments, and at the same time, they are cultural revitalizers and the source of everyday referents; they are educators, and presenters of reality and they are generators of knowledge, authority and political legitimization (p. 26).

They have been omnipresent in political campaigns since the end of the 20^th century, gaining strength in the game of political marketing in the last few years. Especially with the use of political advertising, through the news coverage offered about election campaigns and, of course, through the budgets assigned to the TV networks. These facts have necessarily revealed the important role played by the media in the election processes, as well as the effects generated in the citizens by the consumption of their contents (^{Huerta & García, 2008}).

The cultivation theory put forward by Gerbner and his team of collaborators at the end of the 1960’s stands out among the studies on the representations of social groups in the media. The extent of the influence of TV has been analyzed from this theory as well as the effects the media have on the individuals, and in the generation of attitudes through its contents (^{Beaudoux, 2014b}; ^{Behm-Morawitz & Ortiz, 2013}; ^{Brown Givens & Monahan, 2005}; ^{Muñiz et al., 2014}). And as ^{Shanahan and Morgan (1999)} pointed out when they review the theory, “much of what we know, or think we know, we have never personally experienced; we ‘know’ about many things based on the stories we hear and the stories we tell” (p. 13). That is, reality or the perception we have of reality is the result of everything we hear or watch through someone else, without being the protagonists, but rather the spectators in a context of the society that we assume as real.

No doubt this would not represent a relevant fact if it had not been discovered that the more an individual is exposed to the media, in particular to television, the more their view of social and political reality looks like the referent represented on the media rather than like the objective referent that statistics and social reality can show (^{Gerbner, 1998}). In sum, those individuals that have been subjected to high media exposure, to a larger extent tend to hold prejudices and stereotyped gender conceptions that coincide with the media narratives (^{Beaudoux, 2014a}; ^{Muñiz et al., 2010}).

Therefore, the media can play a crucial role in the process of “stereotyping” (^{Brown Givens & Monahan, 2005}; ^{Muñiz et al., 2014}), which involves the activation of certain stereotypes and their application to make subsequent value judgments. And the point is that through their contents they contribute to the representation of social groups and the activation among the audience of a system of personal beliefs about the social groups, from the use of certain stereotypes that are believed to define these groups. A process that is amplified when the stereotyped images of the groups are repeated continually over time, as it can happen through the constant use of certain stereotypes to portray the groups in the media contents (^{Brown Givens & Monahan, 2005}).

This process is not likely to be alien to women’s image in politics as portrayed by the media in their contents. And the point is that, due to the fact that many leadership or strength qualities are generally built thinking of male qualities, it is common for representations of women in the media contents to derive into stereotypes that show women as politically inept, lacking in knowledge, weak in character and devoid of autonomy or just as mothers (^{Marugán & Durá, 2013}; ^{Pérez, 2009}). A representation that begins this stereotyping process, and that can derive into the shaping of thoughts, attitudes and value judgments with respect to women connected with politics.

Gender minorities in the political advertising

As it has been pointed out, to a large extent the opinions and values that prevail among citizens with respect to public issues depend on the messages they receive through the media (^{Dixon, 2000}; Seiter, 1986). That is why they have been pointed at as responsible for social mediations (^{Orozco Gómez, 1997}; ^{Sánchez-Tabernero, 2008}), as well as for the creation or mass diffusion of stereotypes and prejudices that concern minorities or minority groups (^{Barbalho, 2005}; ^{Behm-Morawitz & Ortiz, 2013}; ^{Brown Givens & Monahan, 2005}).

Though the concept of minority or minority group is commonly used, it should be convenient to make some considerations about its scope and use. In this regard, ^{Guillaurnin (1992 cited in Osborne, 1996)} explains that minority groups are not necessarily those that, due to the small number of their members, are also the smallest in number in society. They should rather be considered as such when they are in a state of “lesser power” in a society, whether this power is economic, legal or political (p. 80). This premise can also be adopted in the case of women, who are usually assumed as a minority group. As ^{Osborne (1996)} indicates “this definition of minority, resulting from the inferiority of status, and not from their statistic relevance, is what allows the sociologic approximation between the so-called ethnic minorities and women” (p. 80).

Moreover, regarding deliberative spaces, even though an ever-wider space is emerging for more and more women to join, it is not possible to speak of a large number or claim that this process is occurring rapidly. However, this presence that women are adopting in the social system is an indicator that helps us to observe, measure and interpret the political progress made by women (^{Marugán & Durá, 2013}). That is why it is essential to analyze and reflect on the degree of influence the media have, and within the political contents the influence exerted by advertising spots, since as ^{Díaz-Soloaga and Muñiz indicate (2007)}:

Though it is true that the aim of publicity is not to educate (except for those -like the institutional one- whose explicit aim is precisely that) or to transmit positive values, it is however also true that regardless of the producers’ intention and thanks to the use of symbols recognizable by the audience, publicity transmits -whether they want to or not- life styles, proposals about how one should be, act, …, to be successful on the social scale (p. 77).

Taking this into account, it is important to analyze how the role played by the woman is represented and transmitted in the political campaigns, in particular through the political spots produced by the candidates. This is due to the fact that they are audiovisual messages containing fragments of visual, verbal and oral communication, through which a candidate or political party buys time on the media seeking to influence the vote decision among the people (^{Lita & Monferrer, 2007}), which makes the spots one of the most important messages for conveying political information to the citizenry in election contexts (^{Marañón, 2015}; ^{Muñiz et al., 2010}; ^{Ramos, 2014}).

Considering the antecedents presented, this research aimed to contrast the following research hypothesis and to answer the following research questions in the context of the electoral campaign for the governorship of the Nuevo León State in 2015:

Research design

In order to conduct a research project, it is necessary to carry out a design that allows adequate attainment of the aims set, as well as a “clear, concrete and precise analysis of the problem and a rigorous research methodology suitable for that kind of work” (^{Noguero, 2002, p. 167}). That is why when conducting this research we analyzed the political spots aired during the election for governor in 2015 in the Mexican state of Nuevo León by means of the content analysis technique.

This technique is defined as the set of interpretative procedures for communicative products (messages, texts or discourses) that originate from previously recorded unique communication processes and supported by techniques that are sometimes quantitative (statistics that support counting the units) and sometimes qualitative (logics that are based on the combination of categories), they intend to encode aspects that are considered relevant about the units of analysis (^{Raigada, 2002}). That is, characteristics that must be evaluated and placed in relation so that the latent information present in the units of analysis emerges.

To this end, we selected a sample of spots broadcast by the four main candidates to the governorship, which were determined depending on the vote intention in the surveys presented through the different newspapers with a presence in the state such as: El Norte, El Horizonte, Hora Cero and El Universal. In this sense, the analysis covered the spots by Ivonne Álvarez García, nominated Alianza por tu Seguridad that was made up by Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), Nueva Alianza (Panal), Verde Ecologista de México (PVEM) and Partido Demócrata, by Felipe de Jesús Cantú, the banner holder of Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), by Fernando Elizondo Barragán, registered by Movimiento Ciudadano, and by independent candidate Jaime Rodríguez “El Bronco” (“Nueve estados en juego”, 2015).

According to the Instituto Nacional Electoral (National Electoral Institute, INE) (2015), the election campaign covered from March 6^th, 2015 to June 7^th 2015, election day. During this period, a total of 95 spots were broadcast on television. Of these, 53 correspond to the four main candidates and parties that were analyzed in this research. However, due to the fact that the object of study focused on analyzing the gender stereotypes transmitted in these spots that could affect the political perception people have of women, we only took into consideration those spots where female figures appeared or those whose message addressed specifically this population sector.

Finally, a sample of 28 spots was selected of which ten corresponded to the PAN candidate, 11 to the female candidate for the Alianza por tu Seguridad coalition, five to the candidate for Movimiento Citizen and just two to the independent candidate. Within the spots, the “character” appearing on the ad was used as the unit of analysis, as a result revealing a total of 130 units of analysis: 51 corresponding to the spots analyzed for the PAN candidate, 58 units corresponding to the Alianza por tu Security female candidate, 18 to the partido Movimiento Ciudadano candidate and 3 units to the independent candidate.

Instrument used and reliability analysis

A code book was created for this research with a total of 29 variables, concerning both the general relative data of the spot content and the characters present in them. Regarding the data concerning the female characters, the analysis focused on a set of 14 variables associated with image, age, clothes, role, disability, tone of voice, university education, the character’s initiative or their esthetic appearance (^{Díaz-Soloaga & Muñiz, 2007}). For example, “the character’s age group” was measured, where the encoder had to choose from 0 = cannot be encoded, 1 = younger than 15 years, 2 = Young, from 15 to 30 years approximately, 3 = Adult, 30 to 65 years and 4 = Older, over 65 years.

The selection of said variables to make up the code book was made on the basis of the assumption that many of a politician’s leadership or strength qualities are built in general thinking of male qualities (^{Beaudoux, 2014a}, ^2014b). That is why it is important to determine the presence of other aspects that can determine whether women are represented, on the contrary, as politically inexpert, lacking in knowledge, weak of character and lacking in autonomy or simply as mothers (^{Marugán & Durá, 2013}).

When the codification of the units corpus selected was finished, a reliability analysis was performed to allow confirming the inter-rater agreement obtained, that is, the level in which it can be assumed that there was no bias in the codification of the variables defined in the book for each of the units of analysis. To this end, 70 units of analysis were randomly selected from the total number of samples to perform a second codification. Two new encoders participated, they were chosen with the premise of having previously collaborated in other content analyses, and they were over 18 years of age and were senior undergraduate or graduate students. They were previously trained in regards to the book of codes and the codification fiche they would have to use. After this, the information of the second codification performed by the complementary analysts was collected and captured in the data base with the statistic software SPSS v.19.

To check the inter-rater agreement of the content analysis, the kappa coefficient reliability test was used; the test had been originally proposed by ^{Cohen (1960)} for the case of two raters or two methods. The kappa coefficient can take values ranging between -1 and +1. The closer the value is to +1, the greater the degree of inter-observer agreement. Contrariwise, the close the value is to -1, the greater the degree of inter-observer disagreement (^{Krippendorff, 2004}). This way κ value = .80, was obtained which indicates the study’s high reliability.