Women for President: Media Bias in Eight Campaigns.

Women for President: Media Bias in Eight Campaigns, Erika Falk (University of Illinois Press, 2008, $19.95 paperback)

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In this study of media coverage of eight American women's presidential campaigns, Erika Falk takes up the timely topic of how media bias affects women in politics. Ranging from Victoria Woodhull's 1872 campaign to Carol Moseley Braun's 2004 bid for the Democratic nomination, Falk's research uses content analysis to give statistical support to some popular anecdotal claims: that women candidates receive less press coverage than their male competitors, that coverage of women focuses disproportionately on feminized topics (such as dress and family), and that media language often suggests that women are either unfit to hold office or unelectable in the face of American prejudice. Falk confronts that prejudice head-on with her claim that the press, not the polls, perpetuates the idea that women are unfit for political life. Noting the low numbers of women who run for elected office, Falk smartly points toward the danger that media bias against women might discourage women from public participation.

To those following the 2008 primaries, Falk's conclusions will be nothing new; but the data she has collected buttresses oft-made observations about the role of the media in framing political contests. Her short but comprehensive volume presents solid evidence for actual media biases, and it might be of use to instructors who hope to discuss gender bias in politics without explicitly referencing the current election. Although its commitment to gender analysis sometimes precludes an in-depth discussion of how other factors (such as race) might affect election coverage, the volume presents certain evidence that sexism continues to affect politics. In pointing out how the media portrays women as "not candidates but female candidates," Falk gestures toward a time when they might be both.