"Keterwakilan perempuan dalam politik Indonesia masih dihadapkan pada tantangan berbasis gender, seperti norma gender, stereotip kepemimpinan dan peran sosial. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk memahami bagaimana politisi perempuan memaknai tantangan tersebut dan meresponsnya melalui strategi manajemen impresi, serta bagaimana mereka mengelola konsekuensi emosional dan membangun resiliensi dalam konteks politik yang bias gender. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif dengan desain fenomenologis, dan melibatkan enam politisi perempuan dari berbagai jenjang jabatan dan latar belakang partai sebagai partisipan. Data dikumpulkan melalui wawancara mendalam dan dianalisis dengan metode analisis tematik Braun & Clarke (2006). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa politisi perempuan mengalami ketegangan antara tuntutan tampil feminin dan ekspektasi publik untuk bersikap tegas sebagai pemimpin. Mereka secara strategis menerapkan berbagai bentuk manajemen impresi seperti ingratiation, exemplification, dan self-promotion, yang disesuaikan dengan konteks sosial-politik yang konservatif dan religius. Di sisi lain, mereka menghadapi tekanan emosional akibat stereotip gender, namun mampu membangun resiliensi melalui dukungan sosial, regulasi emosi, serta makna personal terhadap peran politik mereka. Penelitian ini menegaskan bahwa manajemen impresi bukan sekadar alat representasi diri, melainkan mekanisme negosiasi identitas dan peran gender dalam politik. Strategi ini merefleksikan agensi politisi perempuan sekaligus respons terhadap sistem sosial yang membatasi. Tanpa perubahan struktural, tuntutan adaptif yang terus-menerus justru berisiko menjadikan kehadiran perempuan bersifat simbolik. Temuan juga mengungkap penggunaan strategi impresi tidak langsung melalui asosiasi dan aliansi simbolik dengan figur politik yang dihormati dan telah diterima publik, sebagai bentuk adaptasi kontekstual yang memperkaya kajian manajemen impresi dalam politik.
.....Women's representation in Indonesian politics continued to face gender-based challenges, including gender norms, leadership stereotypes and social roles. This study aimed to understand how female politicians interpreted and responded to these challenges through impression management strategies, and how they dealt with emotional consequences and developed resilience within a gender-biased political context. A qualitative phenomenological approach was employed, involving six female politicians from various political levels and party backgrounds as participants. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and analysed using thematic analysis based on Braun and Clarke’s (2006) framework. The findings revealed that female politicians experienced tension between the expectation to appear feminine and the public demand to demonstrate assertiveness as leaders. They strategically employed various forms of impression management such as ingratiation, exemplification, and self-promotion tailored to conservative and religious sociopolitical contexts. At the same time, they faced emotional pressures due to gender stereotypes but managed to build resilience through social support, emotion regulation, and personal meaning attached to their political roles. This study confirmed that impression management was not merely a tool for self-presentation, but a mechanism for negotiating identity and gender roles in politics. These strategies reflected the agency of female politicians while simultaneously serving as a response to restrictive social systems. Without structural change, the constant demand for adaptive strategies risked rendering women's political presence merely symbolic. The findings also revealed the use of indirect impression management strategies through symbolic associations and alliances with respected and publicly accepted political figures, as a form of contextual adaptation that enriched the study of impression management in political settings. "
