A Comparative and Critical Study of Power Features in Senegalese Female Politicians’ Discourse

Abstract

Social expectations about how a man and a woman should talk have led to many sexist stereotypes about gender différences in communication. A review of the literature on gender and politics reveals that women, unlike men, have always been associated with many discriminatory stereo types influencing their social recognition. Some writers like Thorne and Henley (1975) or Dale Spender (1980) analyze the role of gender in politics through the theory of 'dominance,' while others like Maltz and Borker (1982) or Tannen (1990) see it in terms of 'difference.' Such gender stereotypes based on power have created a difficulty for women to establish credibility in traditionally male-dominated fields like politics where men are naturally perceived as the ones who should be the leaders. This research study aims to analyze the code behavior in communication of two Senegalese female political figures. Its purpose is to verify how features related to power can be differently or similarly reflected in female political figures' discourse. In other words, contrarily to what many stereotypes advance, how is power enacted in women's political discourse? Using a discourse analysis approach, some extracts of their speeches were selected to analyze and examine instances of gendered language features related to power.