“Frontrunners”: An Investigation of the Discursive Construction of “Women Politicians” Intersectional Identity

This paper explores how female politicians discursively construct their intersectional identity as “women politicians.” We interviewed 10 female politicians in charge of local political offices and examined how they talked about the boundaries and contents of their “women politicians” identity. When...

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Main Authors: Patrizia Milesi, Augusta Isabella Alberici
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: PsychOpen 2019-09-01
Series:Europe's Journal of Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ejop.psychopen.eu/article/view/1557
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spelling doaj-a0ebc7cc4b0142698e8b9d19967882932020-11-25T02:57:36ZengPsychOpenEurope's Journal of Psychology1841-04132019-09-0115345947810.5964/ejop.v15i3.1557ejop.v15i3.1557“Frontrunners”: An Investigation of the Discursive Construction of “Women Politicians” Intersectional IdentityPatrizia Milesi0Augusta Isabella Alberici1Department of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, ItalyDepartment of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, ItalyThis paper explores how female politicians discursively construct their intersectional identity as “women politicians.” We interviewed 10 female politicians in charge of local political offices and examined how they talked about the boundaries and contents of their “women politicians” identity. When talking about identity boundaries, the interviewees first presented “women politicians” as an exclusive minority within their gender group. Second, they constructed intergroup categorizations by comparing women who meet the requirements to enter politics versus women who do not. When talking about identity contents, the interviewees constructed intergroup categorizations along the ideological axis only. Thus, they overlooked the differences between men and women who share the same ideology while they enhanced the differences among women of different ideologies. Overall, the interviewees constructed their “women politicians” identity as a subordinate identity within their overarching ideological identity rather than as a real intersectional identity. These results are discussed also in terms of discursive de-politicization of the “women politicians” intersectional identity.http://ejop.psychopen.eu/article/view/1557intersectional identitypoliticized identitygender discrimination in politicswomen politicianswomen politicians’ competence
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Patrizia Milesi
Augusta Isabella Alberici
spellingShingle Patrizia Milesi
Augusta Isabella Alberici
“Frontrunners”: An Investigation of the Discursive Construction of “Women Politicians” Intersectional Identity
Europe's Journal of Psychology
intersectional identity
politicized identity
gender discrimination in politics
women politicians
women politicians’ competence
author_facet Patrizia Milesi
Augusta Isabella Alberici
author_sort Patrizia Milesi
title “Frontrunners”: An Investigation of the Discursive Construction of “Women Politicians” Intersectional Identity
title_short “Frontrunners”: An Investigation of the Discursive Construction of “Women Politicians” Intersectional Identity
title_full “Frontrunners”: An Investigation of the Discursive Construction of “Women Politicians” Intersectional Identity
title_fullStr “Frontrunners”: An Investigation of the Discursive Construction of “Women Politicians” Intersectional Identity
title_full_unstemmed “Frontrunners”: An Investigation of the Discursive Construction of “Women Politicians” Intersectional Identity
title_sort “frontrunners”: an investigation of the discursive construction of “women politicians” intersectional identity
publisher PsychOpen
series Europe's Journal of Psychology
issn 1841-0413
publishDate 2019-09-01
description This paper explores how female politicians discursively construct their intersectional identity as “women politicians.” We interviewed 10 female politicians in charge of local political offices and examined how they talked about the boundaries and contents of their “women politicians” identity. When talking about identity boundaries, the interviewees first presented “women politicians” as an exclusive minority within their gender group. Second, they constructed intergroup categorizations by comparing women who meet the requirements to enter politics versus women who do not. When talking about identity contents, the interviewees constructed intergroup categorizations along the ideological axis only. Thus, they overlooked the differences between men and women who share the same ideology while they enhanced the differences among women of different ideologies. Overall, the interviewees constructed their “women politicians” identity as a subordinate identity within their overarching ideological identity rather than as a real intersectional identity. These results are discussed also in terms of discursive de-politicization of the “women politicians” intersectional identity.
topic intersectional identity
politicized identity
gender discrimination in politics
women politicians
women politicians’ competence
url http://ejop.psychopen.eu/article/view/1557
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