Female politicians are sex objects for men and sexual competitors for women. That's what the narratives are based on.
Is this something we should challenge and try to change? Is celebrity culture something we want in politics? Bearing in mind that there can be a difference between popularity and celebrity. Ad astra per aspera
That is all tied up with the loss of egalitarianism, as you say. Now we are getting stuck in a vicious cycle of people's expectations and demands, and the need to meet those in order to get into a position where you can begin to do something about it, in order to try to change the narrative, when you've been forced to perpetuate the narrative to get there... Ad astra per aspera
'Solidarity' is the key value defining the "left". En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma