The aim of this paper is to consider how and why issues of gender politics become salient in the mainstream analysis of political behaviour in the United States, and in particular how the agenda of the women's movement combined with popular accounts in the media to frame the dominant interpretation of the gender gap in political science. To argue this case the paper explores theories of framing, which have become popular in media studies, and considers how this could also be applied to understand the dominant agenda in political science. The conclusion considers the implications for how we study gender politics in political science.
Frames provide contextual cues giving order and meaning to complex problems, actions, and events.
Such framing effects have been detected in experimental and survey studies across a wide range of subjects. Since the concept of 'framing' is complex, we need to try to clarify the main components. The theory remains under-developed, nevertheless it provides a general framework to help understand why there have been common criticisms by women of the conventional gender lens provided in popular accounts and political science. News frames bundle key concepts, stock phrases, and conventional images to reinforce common ways of presenting developments. Events are open to multiple interpretations, but some frames become the conventional way to treat developments.