Madam Secretary: Gender, Media Narratives and Power in the Executive Branch.

Despite witnessing a slow and steady increase in the numbers of women serving in virtually all executive government positions across the country, we know little about the ways in which these women exert influence in national governance. Women who serve in presidential cabinets are particularly well positioned to shape the contours of public policy like few other executives in the country. Nonetheless, presidential scholars and those who study women and politics have left relatively unexplored the question of how media coverage may shape these women's ability to contribute to policymaking. This project forges new ground by examining a select group of male and female cabinet secretaries from the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. We conduct content analysis of media stories to estimate whether or not gender shapes the media coverage received by cabinet secretaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]