a new model/anti-model of woman politician prof.univ.dr. daniela roventa-frumusani lect.univ.dr....

A NEW MODEL/ANTI-MODEL OF WOMAN POLITICIAN

PROF.UNIV.DR. DANIELA ROVENTA-FRUMUSANI LECT.UNIV.DR. ADRIANA STEFANEL

Women, Power, Leadership : Engendering social change through discursive empowerment of female politicians at the topInternational Workshop, Perugia, Italy, 11-12 October 2012

The communist period: double burden

Women: the stars of communist propaganda

The heroizing of women that practice traditional manly professions, from heavy industry and mining to surgery and experimental science; but also the abortion legalization, the brutal secularization of marriage and encouragement –almost irresponsible – of the divorce process (Petre, Z. in Boia, L., 2005,259)

The political participation of women was nothing but rhetorical. In fact, women politicians used to be employed in ‘soft areas’ and at the bottom of the political hierarchy

Women, Power, Leadership Perugia, Italy 11-12 October 2012

http://www.frontpress.ro/2011/08/imaginea-si-rolul-femeii-in-perioada-comunista.html

http://life.hotnews.ro/stiri-prin_oras-10701184-emanciparea-femeilor-primii-ani-regimului-comunist-din-romania.htm

Women politicians in post-communist Romania

Women, Power, Leadership

Perugia, Italy 11-12 October 2012

The changes brought up by the Romanian revolution in 1989 acted in fact, not in spirit, against women’s political involvement. The pro-women involvement discourse was labeled as a communist residue and any attempt to enforce a men/women balance in politics remained fruitless.

Chamber of Deputies Senate Parliament

women % total women % total women % total

1990-1992 18 4,71 382 2 1,56 128 20 3,92 510

1992-1996 11 3,22 341 5 3,20 156 16 3,21 497

1996-2000 21 6,122 343 2 1,29 154 23 4,62 497

2000-2004 29 8,50 341 10 6,13 163 39 7,73 504

2004-2008 27 8,10 333 13 9,28 140 40 8,45 473

2008-prezent 33 9,90 333 10 7,29 137 43 9,14 470

First decade: politics as boy’s club

First two nominees in The Council of The Salvation Front (CFSN) were women; both resign in less than a month

1989-1996: 5 out of 40 women in CFSN; none in The Executive Office; none in the Government; 20 out of 510 in Parliament

1996-2000: 2 women in Senate, 23 in the Deputy Chamber

In the entire period only 2 women minister ( Daniela Bartos for 4 month, Smaranda Dobrescu 1 year)


http://www.paginadeiasi.ro/un-liberal-adevarat/

http://blog.serialreaders.com/2010/10/ana-blandiana-este-invitata-festivalului-international-de-poezie-shaar-de-la-tel-aviv/

http://www.taifasuri.ro/taifasuri/sanatate/1969-doctor-daniela-bartos-caldura-accentueaza-afectiunile-cardiace.htmlhttp://

arhiva.curentul.ro:81/2003/curentul.php?numar=20031219&art=42421

The second decade: the multiplication of feminine voices


The process of integration in UE influence women participation in Romanian politics but not the way they are treated (both by male politicians and by the media)

At the end of the year, a newspaper published a half a page of heavy questions addressed to male politicians; and an other half, named From the Chamber (of Deputy, our note) to the Kitchen in which we, the parliamentarian women, were ask for coking recipes (Rodica Stanoiu , Minister of Justice in Adrian Nastase’s Govern interview in Popescu, L., 2008 p.113)

Possible explanations of the terrible Romanian phallocracy


social and economic reasons: low access to financial resources and lack of a networks support

boys network within the parties media approach angle: in Romanian politics women are not only

less visible in relation to men but also treated by different standards. For men, what it matters is the political experience, professional expertise and for women the family status and physical appearance. (Roventa-Frumusani, D.,in Dragomir, O. et Miroiu, M., coord, 2002)

Preliminary observation:


In the mediated Romanian politics, women are not only less visible than men, but also treated by different standards. For a man, the Procustean bed is the expertise; for women the essentials lay in the family status and attractiveness. For the young ones, there are romance stories to be told, while the older ones must settle with the cast of the evil witches, or reject their womanhood.

In most cases, media (re)create a romance (storytelling techniques) which link the political woman’s name with the name of a well-know/powerful man.


http://baricada.wordpress.com/page/85/?pages-list

A new model/anti-model of woman politician


Cancan and show exaggeration leads to a quasi-exclusion of women from serious political debate or (perverse effect) causes women to resort to alternative strategies to capture attention (pseudo events focused on femininity and not on competence, glossy photographical presence).

This distorted pattern of the woman politician tend to generalize and cannibalizing the other models, which bear away the women who do not fit in the model and reinforce the gender stereotypes.

Evz 10.11.2021, arhiva proprie

Case study: Elena Udrea


Sursa foto:1. Sesiune foto The one, arhivă proprie2. http://ziarpiatraneamt.ro/elena-udrea-

este-prim-ministru/3. Conferinta de presa, captura tv,

arhivă proprie4. Emisiune Acasa tv, captura tv, arhivă

proprie

http://ziarpiatraneamt.ro/elena-udrea-este-prim-ministru/

http://ziarpiatraneamt.ro/elena-udrea-este-prim-ministru/

The followers:


Elena Udrea is a model of politician which is imposing in Romanian politics, at any level, crossing political-party limits and cannibalize other models

Sursa foto:1. http://www.rtv.net/noua-elena-udrea-a-cabinetului-ungureanu-galerie-foto_14649.html2. http://www.adevarul.ro/locale/botosani/Botosani-_Politista_sexy-curtata_de_politicieni_0_385761733.html3. Arhivă proprie5. Fluturas de campanie, arhivă proprie6. http://www.citynights.ro/stiri/noua-udrea-e-bruneta

Our contribution to the project:


Quantitative media analysis: The imagine of male/female politicians in the media The self-presentation of women politicians. The impact of

successful model of women politician in the self-presentation of Romanian women politicians

Gender stereotypes.

Quantitative and qualitative analysis: The public perception of women politicians. The public need for the enforce of a men/women balance in

Romanian politics The women politicians perception of the gender asymmetry of

Romanian democracy

Selective bibliography:


Dobos, Corina (coord) 2010 Politica pronatilista a regimului Ceausescu. O perspectiva comparativă [The Pro-life Politics of Ceausescu’s Regime. A Comparative Analysis] ed. Polirom

Dragomir, Otilia, Miroiu, Mihaela(coord) 2002 Femei, cuvinte şi imagini [Women, Words and Imagines] ed. Polirom

Gubin, Eliane; Jacques Catherine; Rochefort Florence; Studer Brigitte; Thebaud Francoise ; Zancarini-Fournel Michelle, 2004- Le siècle des féminismes, Paris,Editions de l’Atelier

Kerbrat-Orecchioni, C., 1996 La conversation, Seuil Miroiu, Mihaela (coord) 2002 Lexicon feminist [Feminist lexicon] ed. Polirom Petre Zoie 2005 Promovarea femeii sau despre destructurarea sexului feminin [The Promotion of

Women or Abou the Destructuration of Feminity] in Miturile comunismului romanesc [The Miths of Romanian Communism], coord Lucian Boia ed. Humanitas

Philips, Anne 1995, The Politics of Presence ,New York, Oxford University Press Philips, Anne, 1998 (ed) Feminism and Politics, New York, Oxford University Press Popescu, Liliana 1999 Gen si politica. Femeile din Romania in viata publica [Gender and Politics. The

Romanian Women in the Public Sphere] ed. Meta Graphos Roventa-Frumusani, Daniela; Stefanel Adriana 2011 Identite narrative et identite discursive des

fammes politiques roumaines in Cristina Constantopoulou Recites et fictions dans la societe contemporaine, ed. L'Harmattan

Tremblay, Manon, 2008, 100 Questions sur les femmes et la politique, Montréal, Remue-Ménage Van Zoonen, Liesbet (1994), Feminist Media Studies, London, Sage.

a new model/anti-model of woman politician prof.univ.dr. daniela roventa-frumusani lect.univ.dr....

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