Zwischen Bild und Bias: Genderspezifische Darstellungen in der visuellen Medienpräsenz Schweizer Politikerinnen

This project examines how national and regional online news portals visually represent Swiss politicians and whether these practices reinforce or challenge gender stereotypes, thus shaping visual and political culture.

Existing research shows that visual reporting strongly shape how politicians are perceived, evaluated, and remembered, while often implicitly reproducing structural inequalities. Women politicians are not only less visible but also portrayed differently from men; this dual dynamic of under- and misrepresentation has clear implications, affecting both political participation and perceptions of authority. In a direct-democratic context like Switzerland, such media representations play a key orienting role for citizens.

This study thus analyzes a representative sample of journalistic images published between 2022 and 2025, outside election periods, across the Italian-, German-, and French-speaking regions, using quantitative image content analysis and a multi-level coding scheme capturing formal, content-related, and person-related features.

In doing so, the study aims to deepen understanding of Switzerland’s visual political culture, raise public awareness of gendered media representations, and provide media professionals with practical tools to develop a more balanced and equitable visual language.