Faceless Women: The invisible struggle of female political leaders in children's minds

As Australia reflects on the recent federal election and International Women’s Day, we’re offered a timely chance to ask not just who holds political power, but who is seen to hold it. Dr Claudia Escobar Vega, a Lecturer in Arts and Cultural Management at Deakin Business School, explores a striking phenomenon around what Australian children draw when asked to depict a leader.

For decades, the phrase “faceless men” has symbolised the shadowy male powerbrokers of Australian politics, those who influence from behind closed doors, away from public scrutiny. But today, another kind of facelessness is quietly shaping our democracy, our future democracy: the one unfolding in children’s minds.

Over nearly a decade of research with hundreds of Australian primary school students, I’ve documented a striking phenomenon: when asked to draw a leader, and when they choose to depict a political one, many children, especially girls, either omit women entirely, or depict them without faces. Blank expressions, question marks, blindfolds. I believe these are not one-off curiosities. They are possibly recurring, symbolic omissions that tell us something deeper about gender and power.

The “faceless woman” first emerged in my PhD study An exploratory study of constructions of leadership during childhood in 2018 when I asked over 250 Australian primary school students to draw a leader and two Grade 6 girls depicted female political leaders, one with a question mark for a face, another with hair covering one eye. Since then, I’ve seen this image come back: leaders with no eyes, no mouths, no expression, no identity. In 2022, as part of the Leaders Exhibition among more than 500 students, several girls once again drew faceless female political leaders, some with blank expressions, others replacing facial features with words. One boy drew a female leader inspired by Greta Thunberg. But even then, her face was not human; instead, it was filled with slogans: Recycle, Reduce, Reuse.

Then in 2023, during The Future Leaders Podcast commissioned by FUSE festival, an in-depth project in a different context, the faceless woman appeared again. This time, a girl drew a blindfolded Prime Minister. “I planned to give it bigger ears because a leader listens,” she explained. “I don’t know why I covered the eyes… I just did.”

In contrast, male political leaders are consistently drawn fully formed: suited, poised, powerful. All depicted in clear positions of authority with confident stances, podiums, and assured visibility.

While these are just a handful of examples, I find their recurrence across years, schools, and contexts, noticeable. That such similar imagery emerges independently seems to point to a deeper cultural script. In my research, I found that children’s perceptions of political leadership are shaped primarily by the media they consume. These early visual patterns may not be incidental; they can clearly reflect the power of first impressions, and the lasting impact of what, and who, is made visible.

These drawings are more than childhood sketches, they are cultural artefacts, reflecting the invisibility of women in public leadership. As girls approach adolescence, they begin to internalise who they see in positions of power, and overwhelmingly, they see men. In my research, while 70% of younger girls drew women as leaders, that number drops to just 40% by Grade 6. By this age, children increasingly associate leadership with public roles in humanitarian or environmental causes, but their understanding of who occupies those roles is shaped by media and cultural cues. The decline in female representation suggests girls are already adjusting their sense of what’s possible, and who belongs in power.

This isn’t about encouraging children to draw women for equality’s sake, it’s about asking why so many struggle to imagine them at all. And why, when they do, the image is blurred or incomplete.

There’s a chilling symmetry here. Just as “faceless men” work behind the scenes of politics, “faceless women” have been quietly erased from the stage before even arriving. One hides influence, the other erases possibility.

Yet even in outline, the presence of a woman, drawn in defiance of absence, is powerful. It shows a child trying to visualise a future not yet shown to them. And this matters. These children are our future voters, advocates, and leaders. As the 2025 election looms, the nation will be saturated with images of leadership. Let’s make sure we balance this out with images that reflect the diversity of those who can lead. Show them leaders. Speak their names. Share their stories.

That responsibility falls to all of us: media, publishers, parents, educators. Children (that is, our future citizens) can’t appear to aspire to what they can’t see. Can we move beyond the faceless woman?

Among more than a thousand children, only one articulated a perspective that challenged prevailing norms. While drawing a leader with both male and female features, the student explained: “Anyone can be a leader. It’s not about gender, it’s more about what they bring to the table.” This rare response underscores the potential of early, inclusive leadership education. We have a huge opportunity to integrate leadership learning into our primary school education. If more children were encouraged to prioritise qualities over gender, we might begin to see a genuine shift in how leadership is imagined, and, ultimately, enacted.

My research on Children and Leadership aims to better understand how our ideas around leadership emerge in early life and contribute to the development of norms in adulthood, such as the lack of opportunities for women, First Nations Australians, and culturally diverse people. My work has revealed unconscious biases that can potentially be influenced in early childhood.

Dr Claudia Escobar Vega is a Lecturer in Arts and Cultural Management at Deakin Business School. With over 20 years of experience across education, the arts, and research, her work bridges practice and theory to empower future generations. She holds a PhD in leadership and collaborates with diverse partners through her academic, artistic, and consulting work.

Website: https://claudiaescobarvega.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudia-escobar-vega-03180045/

Deakin’s Profile: https://experts.deakin.edu.au/28302-claudia-escobar-vega

Grade 6 boys and girls drawings of male political leaders