Women, civility and the language of politics: realities and representations

This article draws on research which analyses both the actual speech of women in political and public settings and the way their speech is represented in media reports and other commentary. It argues that there is a disconnect between reality and representation, and that the effect is to place a particular burden on women. Women are judged in relation to the belief that they will civilise public discourse thanks to their ‘naturally’ less adversarial speech style, and when they deviate from this stereotype they are liable to attract punitive responses. The idea(l) of civility is thus a double-edged sword: while it may be invoked to deplore the abuse to which women in public life are subjected, it can also be deployed to police or discredit women's own public speech. A feminist politics of civility must pay attention to both these manifestations of sexism