This book looks at how media coverage reinforces gender stereotyping and influence the public evaluations of women leaders' candidacies and performance. Through the analysis of several examples and experiences illustrating specific issues, like the double bind; the trivialization effect and personal politics, readers will be introduced to the controversial yet familiar question of why there are so few women in power and why the glass ceiling seems still so difficult to break.The book also analyzes the consequences of recent developments in political communication for female leadership. Processes such as the popularization and the personalization of politics as well as the advent of the new media are changing the nature and the scope of leadership in contemporary democracies. The book discusses some of the implications of such a complex framework in terms of possible changes in the style of female political leadership.

This book analyzes how the media covers women leaders and reinforces gendered evaluations of their candidacies and performance. It deals with current transformations in political communication that may change the nature and scope of leadership in contemporary democracies with implications for relations between female leaders, media and citizens.