Gender and the Personal in Political Biography:Observations from a Dutch Perspective

This article explores the differential meanings of "personal life" in political biographies of men and women, mainly based upon Dutch examples, but making use of international literature. Though there has been a tendency to use personal detail only as a means to advertise and popularize old-fashioned political biography, under the influence of the feminist slogan "the personal is political" serious historical biographies of male politicians have become enriched with all sorts of information on their private lives: their hobbies and habits, political tastes, and to some extent also their family... Mehr ...