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Female politicians can be punished at the polls for not smiling – but men aren’t

The Conversation · 🇦🇺 public Australia · · 1236 words · By Iona Astier; Quentin Lippmann
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What to know about Female politicians can be punished at the polls for not smiling – but men aren’t

The article examines gender dynamics in political candidacy, analyzing how women politicians face distinct expectations regarding smiling compared to men. It references a study on electoral manifestos and an online experiment to explore the electoral impact of smiling, concluding that women face unique challenges in balancing warmth and authority.

Propaganda risk 0%
Claims checked 11
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center83%
Right17%

6 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

When election time comes around, campaign posters feature candidates with a determined look in their eye, their local promises, well thought-out slogans in full view, and a smile – which particularly among women politicians has become something of a quiet,…

Why it matters

In 2016, during the Democrat National convention Hillary Clinton was commented more on supposedly not smiling or lacking warmth than on her electoral manifesto.

Common ground

Some years later Élisabeth Borne, who was then Prime Minister of France, was described several times as being “cold” and “stiff.” Recounting her twenty months spent at Matignon in a book (2024), she explains how her attitude was more harshly judged than if…

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

The article examines gender dynamics in political candidacy, analyzing how women politicians face distinct expectations regarding smiling compared to men. It references a study on electoral manifestos and an online experiment to explore the electoral impact of smiling, concluding that women face unique challenges in balancing warmth and authority.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://theconversation.com/female-politicians-can-be-punished-at-the-polls-for-…

analyticsAnalysis

0%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 95%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 11 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

help Insufficient Evidence 8
help_outline Unverifiable 2
schedule Pending 1
help
Claim 1: “Smiling becomes a tool for adjustment that reduces the tension between contradictory requirements for women in politics.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence in archive to confirm smiling as an adjustment tool for women.
help
Claim 2: “In 2016, during the Democrat National convention Hillary Clinton was commented more on supposedly not smiling or lacking warmth than on her electoral manifesto.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence in archive to confirm or refute claims about Hillary Clinton's 2016 DNC coverage.
help
Claim 3: “Almost 80% of women were perceived to be 'smiling' in the photo compared with 60% of men, representing a difference of 19% percentage points.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence in archive to confirm AI analysis of candidate photos.
help
Claim 4: “A female candidate that doesn't smile scores about two points less than a non-smiling male politician.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence in archive to confirm voting differences between non-smiling candidates.
schedule
Claim 5: “French political scientist Frédérique Matonti demonstrated that stereotypical media coverage of female politicians can be turned to their advantage.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
visibility_off
Claim 6: “An online experiment with 1000 people showed that a neutral expression reduces voting intentions for all candidates, but more so for female candidates.”
UNVERIFIABLE
Claim references a 2026 experiment not yet conducted, making it unverifiable.
visibility_off
Claim 7: “A recent study carried out on 9,000 electoral manifestos from local elections in France in 2022 and 2024 subjected the phenomenon to a statistical reality test.”
UNVERIFIABLE
Claim references a 2026 study not yet published, making it inherently unverifiable.
help
Claim 8: “Élisabeth Borne, who was then Prime Minister of France, was described several times as being 'cold' and 'stiff.'”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence in archive to verify descriptions of Élisabeth Borne's demeanor.
help
Claim 9: “Female candidates face 'double trouble' as they must embody both warmth/empathy and authority/firmness.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence in archive to verify claims about female candidate expectations.
help
Claim 10: “Smiling men and smiling women score about two points more in the polls compared to non-smiling men.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence in archive to verify polling data correlations with smiling.
help
Claim 11: “The results tally with the analysis based on the electoral programmes, are the subject of a scientific paper that is currently in the process of being edited.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence in archive to confirm study publication status.
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.