Female politicians are heavily constrained by discourses that prescribe masculine values as natural, yet at times they draw on societal expectations of femininity that allow them to utilize such discourses to their advantage. Motherhood, a feminine yet powerful role, provides such an opportunity. Capitalizing on this acceptable avenue of female power, women have strategically relied on maternal appeals since they first entered public life, often to challenge patriarchal social structures. Utilizing Lakoffs (2002) concept of the nation-as-family metaphor and informed by the pervasive myth of the traditional family, this analysis explores the consequences of Sarah Palins use of maternal appeals related to discourses of family, politics, motherhood, and feminism.
The rise of prominent conservative women like Palin engages questions about the feminist potential of maternal appeals. Conservative politicians often support ―family values,‖ including a more traditional familial structure with relatively strict gender roles. A female politicians support of this family model creates an interesting contradiction, as participating in public office necessarily involves stepping outside of the home and traditional role of a wife and mother. Despite this seeming inconsistency, Palin bases her political image on her family and role as a mother, and frames her political career as a necessary response to protect Americas children and conservative family values. She describes herself as a ferocious ―mama grizzly‖ and emphasizes that womens unique perspective and special talentssuch as motheringare valued skills that should be brought to the public sphere. She argues that not only are women capable of working just as hard as men, because of their essential nature and experiences as mothers, they bring special gifts and abilities to public office that men cannot.
Through this use of maternal appeals, Sarah Palin creates room for herself in a male-dominated political arena, but because she bases her political persona on traditional family values and a tough but self-sacrificial ―mama grizzly‖ persona, she effectively reinforces expectations of femininity and motherhood that limit womens other opportunities.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MONTANA/oai:etd.lib.umt.edu:etd-10262012-154418 |
| Date | 04 February 2013 |
| Creators | Zink, Jasmine Rose |
| Contributors | Sara Hayden, Steven Schwarze, Celia Winkler |
| Publisher | The University of Montana |
| Source Sets | University of Montana Missoula |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-10262012-154418/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Montana or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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