Nowadays more women can access political power and play roles in politics. This volume is a collection of studies of women leaders’ discursive practices with cultural and political characteristics. The aim is to explore the construction of women leaders’ roles in politics and the interrelationship between discourse, politics and gender.

Besides an introduction and a conclusion, this volume consists of four parts. Part 1 focuses on the linguistic features of leadership. Chapter 1, by John Wilson & Anthea Irwin, concludes that Margaret Thatcher used a lower pitch to symbolize trust and status and adopted an aggressive style as a senior British politician. In chapter 2, Florencia Cortès-Conde & Diana Boxer contrast the ‘populist rhetoric’ style of the President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, and the ‘pragmatic left’ style of Argentinian President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (9) by analyzing how they express their policies on human rights and economic issues in their presidential campaigns. Chapter 3, by Sharon Millar, addresses pronominal use by Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Denmark's first female prime minister, and her identity construction from a ‘collective perspective’ (10).

Part 2 explains the interrelationship between discourse, media, and power. Chapter 4, by Catherine Evans Davies, studies how Sarah Palin, the ex-governor of Alaska and vice-presidential candidate, uses Twitter to express her right-wing views. In chapter 5, Raoudha Kammoun explores how Tunisian women are silenced and expected to take on the traditional role of housewives, instead of going into politics. Chapter 6, by Roslyn Appleby, highlights how Julia Gillard, Australia's first female prime minister, played an active part in politics while suffering from sexism. In chapter 7, Lilian Lem Atanga & Alexandre T. Djimeli analyze two daily newspapers to explore the collaboration between women journalists and women politicians in Cameroon.

Part 3 focuses on the construction of women's leadership by the public. Chapter 8, by Amy Sheldon, examines how Hillary Clinton conveyed her feminist views to win the audience's support in the 2008 presidential election campaign. In chapter 9, Karen L. Adams studies the construction of authority by US women candidates for governor in televised debates over twenty years. Chapter 10, by Wei Feng & Doreen D. Wu, contrasts the style of Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and that of Emily Lau Wai-hing, shown in their debates on universal suffrage in Hong Kong.

Part 4 concentrates on women's leadership styles reflected in the media. Chapter 11, by Margreth Lünenborg & Tanja Maier, analyzes German media's coverage of Angela Merkel and her power-driven leadership style. In chapter 12, Johanna Mäkelä, Pekka Isotalus, & Iiris Ruoho explore the weaker representation of female Finnish leaders in newspapers. Chapter 13, by Lennie M. Jones, analyzes the discursive strategies adopted by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and relevant news reports when she ran for Liberian president in 2005 and 2011.

This volume focuses on the linguistic and paralinguistic levels of discourse by women leaders, who react to gender stereotyping and change their roles in politics to achieve their objectives; it includes discussion of equal power relations, the balance of society and the change of politics. It is a useful reference for researchers and students interested in communication studies, media studies, discourse studies, gender studies, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and political studies.