From Women of the Year to “Soccer Moms”: The Case of the Incredible Shrinking Women

Author: Vavrus M.D.

Source: Political Communication, Volume 17, Number 2, 1 April 2000 , pp. 193-213(21)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

In the 1992 U.S. election year, mainstream print and television news coverage was replete with hosannas for female politicians, praised as strong and politically powerful figures during this so-called ''Year of the Woman.'' Just 4 years later, 1996 election news reports relied upon a very different image to describe women vis-à-vis electoral politics: “soccer moms.” “Soccer mom” was the term used most recurrently in mainstream television and print media to refer to an aggregate of women, vis-à-vis electoral politics, who were described as crucial to the success of either presidential candidate: President Clinton or Robert Dole. This period of time represents a dramatic shift in news discourse: from discussing women as political power wielders (Women of the Year) to discussing women as a group of swing voters defined primarily by their filial obligations. This article considers some possible implications of this shift and argues that it represents a discursive connection between women voters — reduced to a demographic category characterized by women’s relationships to their children — and an ideology of consumerism that reduces electoral politics to personal choices around product consumption and “lifestyle.”

Keywords: SOCCER; MOMS; SWING; VOTERS; YEAR; OF; THE; WOMAN

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Publication date: 2000-04-01

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