So what happened? Why did neither of these two women get elected? Hillary Clinton, who early in the race was the Democratic hopeful, and was neck and neck with Obama in the poles. Why did Clinton lose so much political ground during the primaries? For Sarah Palin, she is only the second woman to ever be nominated as a vice presidential candidate on a major party nomination. The truth of the matter is, none of these women stood a chance against the negative representations they received from the news media. Since the 1984 Presidential Elections, where Geraldine Ferraro was the first women to run as a vice presidential candidate, scholars have studied the effects of gendered stereotypes, metaphors, double binds, and sexism in the news media. Studying the gendered communications of past elections illuminates the presence of gendered stereotypes and double binds …show more content…
Clinton is using her past experiences’ of negative news representations to her advantage this time around. However, Clinton is not the only woman campaigning for the 2016 Presidency. Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, is the only woman on the stage with nine other men battling to secure the Republican nomination. There are striking similarities in the media representations between the Hillary Clinton of 2008 and Carly Fiorina of 2015. Much of the discourse from the 2008 media negatively framed Clinton, characterizing her as a shrew, harsh, and unapproachable. There are similar depictions of Fiorina, especially in the discourse surrounding her face. Donald Trump, one of the Republican front runners is quoted saying, “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? I mean, she’s a woman, and I’m not supposed to say bad things, but really folks, come on. Are we serious” (Rolling Stones,