Political Communication and Gender: An Analysis of Public’s Perceptions Toward the Election of the 2017 Mayoral Candidates of Banda Aceh

Abstract

This research attempted to describe the public's perception toward political communication of
certain gender in winning the mayoral election of Banda Aceh in 2017 and to find out
people's perceptions on whether gender is able to influence the candidacy in winning the
mayoral election of Banda Aceh in 2017. This research was conducted by using qualitative
method and took place in Banda Aceh. The process of retrieving data and information of the
research is obtained from the review of literature. This research employed structured-
interview on expert informants from the Independent Election Commission, the Head of
Islamic Shari'a Office of Banda Aceh and the voting community (male and female) selected
by using purposive sampling. The theory used in this research is the theory of social
cognition, a learning theory explaining the patterns of behavior. This theory was developed
by Albert Bandura since 1960 and emphasized the tendency to imitate or emulate what
people see through the media or other people. There are interrelationships between
individuals, environment and behavior. In this case, the political communication carried out
by the two mayor candidates of Banda Aceh stemmed a new problem since one of the
candidates was female. As the result, this issue triggered a controversy in the community in
terms of contradicting the teachings of Islamic Shari'a among candidates and within the
community regarding gender. In terms of political participation, women have been given
special proportion in both management of political parties and legislative candidacy (30%).
Meanwhile, this arrangement is still not well-considered because there are no strict sanctions
for political parties. In respect of sociological aspects, there are still many serious problems, starting from women's interest which is still low in the political sphere as well as the
problems of gender bias experienced by women. Furthermore, the urgency of women's
representation in the political sphere is hampered due to negative stereotypes towards women
and the level of patriarchal knowledge which still sticks on people's lives.