Presidentti vai naispresidentti? : sukupuoli presidentinvaaleja käsittelevissä mielipidekirjoituksissa 1994-2006

Authors

• Jussi Ronkainen

Abstract

This article considers gender as part of political participation and the presidential institution by studying the ‘Letters to the Editor’ section of the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. The writings deal with the Finnish presidential elections of 1994, 2000 and 2006. The aim is to ana­lyse the way gender is discussed and how the writers’ own gender affects the content of writing. The analysis is guided by theoretical concepts such as ’gender gap’, ’agenda setting’ and ’media framing’. It is carried out by means of quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The study shows that a gender gap is apparent in several ways. Men generally write more than women and this gap has increased during the years. Men and women also tend to write about different things. Topics related to gender and equality were handled almost only by women. These themes were on the agenda in 1994 but almost totally missing in 2006. Opinions related to core political issues like foreign policy or parliamentarism continue to be male-dominated.