RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article T1 Female political leadership styles as shown on Instagram during COVID-19 A1 Berrocal Gonzalo, Salomé A1 García Beaudoux, Virginia A1 D'Adamo, Orlando A1 Bruni, Leandro K1 Political communication, female leadership, personalisation, Instagram, stereotypes, COVID-19 AB This paper explores the leadership styles of fourteen elected female politicians in executive government positions, ascommunicated through the official Instagram accounts that were in use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Seven of themare, or were, heads of government, six are or were mayors, and one is the president of an autonomous region in Spain.These women are Angela Merkel (Germany), Jacinda Ardern (New Zealand), Sanna Marin (Finland), Mette Frederiksen(Denmark), Erna Solberg (Norway), Katrin Jakobsdottir (Iceland), Tsai Ing-Wen (Taiwan), Anne Hidalgo (Paris), VirginiaRaggi (Rome), Ada Colau (Barcelona), Claudia López (Bogotá), Claudia Sheinbaum (Mexico City), London Breed (SanFrancisco) and Isabel Díaz Ayuso (Madrid Region). A comparative content analysis of 2,330 units was conducted over a6-month period. The study analyses the hard or soft leadership style conveyed by the women politicians selected in relationto four variables: political ideology, generational affiliation, level of government and techniques used in communication.The results show that the values of the variables affect leadership styles; therefore, the assumption that all female politicianshave a single leadership style is erroneous and related to gender stereotyping. PB Comunicar SN 1134-3478 YR 2023 FD 2023 LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/74332 UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/74332 LA spa NO Comunicar, n. 75, v. XXXI, p. 125-143 NO Producción Científica DS UVaDOC RD 04-abr-2025