2014 Jill Vickers Prize

Winner: Melanee Thomas and Lisa Lambert

2013 CPSA conference paper – Private Mom vs Political Dad? Communications of Parental Status in the 41st Canadian Parliament

Excerpt from jury report: In this well-written and expertly presented research which offers fresh insights to the literature, the author’s analyse empirical data which counters much of the previous academic work in women and media which has typically argued that women downplay their parental status and men politicians celebrate their family lives. Indeed, as Thomas and Lambert persuasively argue in this treatment of political marketing, politicians displays of parental status are deliberate and strategic decisions designed to highlight both the candidate’s party’s brand and to shape their own image and political fortunes. They conclude that gender and political party “condition how parental status is communicated to constituents”.