Jennifer L. Lawless,
American University: Seven Factors Reveal Why Women Don’t Run for Office
January 14, 2012
Despite
the prodigious attention the media devote to female political figures,
such as Michele Bachmann, Hillary Clinton, and Sarah Palin, a new study
conducted by American University School of Public Affairs associate
professor of government and director of the Women and Politics Institute
Jennifer L. Lawless and associate professor of political science at
Loyola Marymount University Richard L. Fox reveals a continued and
substantial gender gap in political ambition among both Democrats and
Republicans. Men tend to have it; and women don’t.
In their new report, Men Rule: The Continued Under-Representation of
Women in U.S. Politics, Lawless, a 2006 candidate for Congress seeking
the Democratic nomination in Rhode Island’s second district, and Fox
detail the results of a survey of nearly 4,000 lawyers, business
leaders, educators, and political activists, all of whom are
well-situated to run for office. Even with the emergence over the past
ten years of high-profile women in politics, the authors find that the
gap between women and men’s interest in running for office is the same
today as it was a decade ago (see Figure 1).
The report identifies seven factors that contribute to the gender gap in
interest in running for office:
1. Women are substantially more likely than men to perceive the
electoral environment as highly competitive and biased against female
candidates.
2. Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin’s candidacies aggravated women’s
perceptions of gender bias in the electoral arena.
3. Women are much less likely than men to think they are qualified to
run for office.
4. Female potential candidates are less competitive, less confident, and
more risk averse than their male counterparts.
5. Women react more negatively than men to many aspects of modern
campaigns.
6. Women are less likely than men to receive the suggestion to run for
office – from anyone.
7. Women are still responsible for the majority of childcare and
household tasks.
Given
the persistent gender gap in political ambition and the deeply
entrenched nature of these factors, the United States remains a long way
from a political reality in which women and men are equally likely to
aspire to attain elective office. To be sure, both major political
parties are running a record number of female candidates for the U.S.
Senate in 2012. But women, assuming they win their primaries, will still
compete in fewer than one-third of all races. Thus, even if 2012 is a
“banner year” for female candidates, it will likely still amount only to
a 1 to 2 percentage point increase in number of women serving in the
U.S. Congress.
Certainly, recruiting female candidates and disseminating information
about the electoral environment can help narrow the gender gap in
ambition and increase women’s representation. But many barriers to
women’s interest in running for office can be overcome only with major
cultural and political changes. In the end, this report documents how
far from gender parity we remain, as well as the barriers and obstacles
we must still surmount in order to achieve it.
Lawless and Fox are available to discuss the report, as well as women
candidates and the 2012 elections more generally.
