The symbolic representation of women's political firsts in editorial cartoons.

Women's breakthroughs in public office provide a stage for the symbolic re-enactment of ideas about women's political presence and about gendered social constructions related to women's and men's leadership qualities. Drawing on gendered mediation studies in print media and using content and discourse analysis, we investigate the symbolic representation in editorial cartoons of women occupying for the first time historically male-dominated political offices. Our empirical analysis of the Spanish case finds no systematic symbolic annihilation of these historic firsts. Women's political breakthroughs are more often acknowledged than omitted but their portrayal is not free from trivialization, particularly by conservative cartoonists, who are also more likely to condemn trailblazers to scandalize gender quotas. In a more positive light, gendered mediation seems to present a decreasing trend, thanks to both the normalization of women's political presence and the rising public prominence of the feminist movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]