Female mayors in the Russian Federation: Visual self-presentation (Chelyabinsk and Samara cases)

Introduction: studying the activities of female mayors is relevant due to the growing recognition of the role of women’s leadership in local government. Although gender imbalances persist in Russia at both federal and local levels, efforts are being made to expand women’s participation in government. However, gender remains an important factor in both political image and leadership strategies. In the context of ongoing discussions on improving the quality of life and developing global cooperation, studying the representation of female mayors helps to identify both problems and opportunities for overcoming gender imbalances in local politics. Objectives: to analyze the visual component of the female mayors’ gender display in Russia using the examples of Samara and Chelyabinsk. Methods: I. Goffman’s concept of gender display, the method for analyzing the visual self-presentation of a politician proposed by S. Brands, S. Kruikemeier and D. Trilling. Results: the selected cases of Chelyabinsk and Samara show that female mayors in the Russian Federation prefer to create a visual image that demonstrates professionalism, seriousness and, at the same time, accessibility to citizens. This is evidenced by the dominance of photographs in which Natalia Kotova and Yelena Lapushkina interacted with other people and were not in the spotlight. By posting such photographs, both leaders sought to demonstrate their own interaction with citizens, primarily in areas such as street cleaning, participation in public events, etc. Conclusions: female local politicians strive to make their images accessible to citizens/voters, but do not abandon traditional femininity, which, however, is always complemented by the image of a professional, since social networks are used exclusively for work purposes.