By Jennifer Lawless
Political Science Professor at Brown University
AFL-CIO Media Center/Speak-Out
http://www.aflcio.org/mediacenter/speakout/jennifer_lawless.cfm?elink
Over the course of the past few years, I have surveyed
and interviewed nearly 4,000 people who we might
consider "eligible candidates" - highly successful
individuals who occupy the professions most likely to
precede a career in politics. Although about 50 percent
of the people I spoke to had considered running for
office, women were more than one-third less likely than
men to have considered a candidacy. And they were only
half as likely as men to have taken any of the actions
that usually precede a campaign - like investigating
how to place their name on the ballot, or discussing
running with potential donors, party or community
leaders, or even mentioning the idea to family members
or friends. If we focus only on the 50 percent of
people who had thought about running, women were one-
third less likely than men to throw their hats into the
ring and enter actual races.
We can't really begin to figure out how to minimize the
gender gap in political ambition if we don't understand
its roots. I'd like to share my experiences as a woman
candidate in a state with a poor history of electing
women and a very male-dominated political
establishment. I'd like to begin a conversation about
political ambition, why men have it, and why women
don't. And I'd like to hope that we can use the results
of my research and my experiences to guide us in
thinking about how to incorporate more women into the
political sphere.
Women in Office - Then and Now
It's true that over the course of the past 20 years,
the number of women in Congress has more than tripled.
Since the end of World War II, the number of women
serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and the
Senate has grown by more than 800 percent. In fact,
California's Democratic congressional delegation, which
is the largest state party delegation in Congress, is
comprised of more women than men. Things aren't so bad,
right?
Wrong. The United States ranks 82nd worldwide in the
percentage of women in our national legislature. Even
after the gains women made this election cycle, 84
percent of the members of the House and Senate are
male. Eighty-two percent of state governors are male.
Seventy-eight percent of state legislators throughout
the country are male. Eighty percent of big city mayors
are male. And the last several election cycles indicate
a plateau in both Democratic and Republican women's
entry into the political sphere. Further, a recent
national study of college students found that men are
nearly twice as likely as women to say they might be
interested in running for office at some point in the
future. Voter bias against women candidates also
appears to be on the rise: nearly one in every four
Americans agree that "Most men are better suited
emotionally for politics than are most women."
The prospects for women's full inclusion in our
political system, in other words, are looking
increasingly bleak. It makes sense, then, to turn to
the women who are well situated to consider running for
office, assess what's holding them back and work to
alleviate these barriers. Based on my research, I've
identified three basic barriers women face: family
roles, what it means to be a "qualified" candidate and
recruitment efforts.
Family Roles
Prominent female politicians, like vice presidential
candidate Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and California
gubernatorial candidate Dianne Feinstein in 1990, had
to answer for the conduct of their children and
spouses. Yet examples of male politicians having to
offer a public defense and justification of their
parenting skills or family life are far less common.
Women who enter the public sphere, therefore, often
face a "double bind" that men rarely need to reconcile.
This double bind is something that's clearly familiar
to women who are well-positioned to run for public
office today. Of the people I interviewed, women were
about twice as likely as men to be single, separated or
divorced. They also were 20 percent less likely than
men to have children. Hardly surprising, since being a
wife or mother can impede professional achievement.
In families where both adults are working, generally in
high-level careers, women are 12 times more likely than
men to be responsible for the majority of household
tasks, and more than 10 times more likely to be
responsible for the majority of child care
responsibilities. As a businesswoman from Chicago says:
"Women are responsible not only for the family but also
for earning half the money. Now we're also supposed to
run for office? How much can you possibly ask?"
Perceptions of Qualifications
An active member of the Sacramento County Taxpayers
League described a recent exchange with a woman who he
thinks would make an excellent candidate. He said: "She
is an all-American athlete, Phi Beta Kappa, Rhodes
scholar finalist, Harvard Law grad and adviser to the
president. I met with her for dinner the other night
and basically begged her to run for office. She told me
she doesn't think she's qualified. She'd never consider
running. I don't get it. Who is qualified if she's
not?"
Sixty percent of men, but less than 40 percent of
women, think they're qualified to run for office. Keep
in mind that these men and women have the exact same
credential and qualifications. They just don't perceive
them this way. But it gets worse - not only do these
women think that they're not qualified to run, but they
also are more likely to let their doubts hold them
back. A woman who doesn't think she is qualified to run
for office has less than a 25 percent chance of even
thinking about running. The average man who doesn't
think he's qualified still has about a 60 percent
chance of contemplating throwing his hat into the ring.
Gender bias and sexism heighten women's inclinations to
doubt their abilities. After all, they are accustomed
to operating in an environment where they feel they
face a double standard and a doubting atmosphere. It
follows that even women who think they are qualified to
run for public office believe they need to be more
qualified than men just to compete evenly. In fact,
women who think they're qualified to run for public
office tend to state very specific credentials. In
contrast, most men do not make specific linkages
between their professions and the political
environment. Instead, they reference passion,
leadership, and vision. An attorney from Oklahoma
captured this distinction well when he explained that
"All you need is the desire to serve. That makes you
qualified for the job. You can learn the details of
policymaking later."
Recruitment
Unlike men, well-positioned women potential candidates
are significantly less likely than men to report being
tapped to run for office. The accomplished and
politically engaged women I spoke with were about twice
as likely as men to never have had a political leader
suggest they explore running for office. Four
successful women attorneys in their forties, for
example, all state that they follow politics closely.
All belong to political interest groups. And all
contribute to political campaigns. Yet not one has ever
received even the mildest suggestion to run for office.
In fact, women I surveyed were one-third less likely
than men to have been recruited - ever - to run for
office from a party leader, elected official, or
political activist.
But now let me turn to the good news. Potential
candidates who receive the suggestion to run for office
are more than four times as likely as those who receive
no such support to think seriously about a candidacy.
And women are just as likely as men to respond
positively to recruitment messages. For many,
recruitment from political leaders serves as the key
ingredient in fomenting their thoughts of running. An
attorney from Connecticut commented that her interest
in running for office stemmed directly from party
leaders' interest in her as a candidate: "I considered
running [for the legislature] because Democratic Party
leaders suggested that I do it. You need to have the
party's support in order to have a viable run for any
office. It wouldn't have occurred to me without the
suggestion from the party."
Comments from women and men who have been recruited
reflect how party support brings the promise of an
organization that will work on behalf of a candidate.
Statements from those who have not received political
support for a candidacy demonstrate that, without
encouragement, a political candidacy feels far less
feasible. External support is important to potential
candidates from all political parties and professional
backgrounds. But women are significantly less likely
than men to receive it.
Here's How We Can Take Action
We must think creatively about how to integrate family
with politics, as well as be cognizant of the double
bind that even highly successful, professional women
face. We must identify and condemn the kind of sexist
behavior that leads women to feel that they must be
twice as good to get half as far in the political
sphere.
But perhaps most easily, realistically, and concretely,
we must recruit more women to run for office. The AFL-
CIO and its affiliates' political programs, for
instance, are committed to increasing the number of
public officials concerned about working families.
Since 1996, the federation has actively worked to elect
pro-worker candidates and actively assist union members
running for public office. And union members are
winning their elections. Currently, more than 3,000
union members hold elected office.
But that's not all. We need to go to high schools and
colleges and encourage girls and women to engage in
politics. Every time any of us runs across a woman who
seems to fit the bill, we need to tell her - and we
need to tell her more than once - that she should
consider running for office. If she needs to hear it 17
times before it sinks in, then we need to tell her 17
times.
The stakes are too high for us to sit back and not
aggressively fight to convince more women to enter
electoral politics. The Senate Judiciary Committee
never again will grill a woman who charges a man with
sexual harassment the way they did Anita Hill because
one woman - Dianne Feinstein - now serves as one of the
committee's 19 members and 15 other women serve with
her in the Senate. Policies surrounding gender equity,
day care, flex time, abortion, minimum wage increases
and food stamps will continue to receive attention only
if we elect more women legislators, because they are
the most likely to prioritize these issues.
Deeply embedded patterns of traditional family roles,
perceptions of what it means to be a qualified
candidate, and a gender gap in political recruitment
make politics a much less likely path for women than
men. But it doesn't have to remain this way. It's up to
us to change these dynamics, and that's the challenge
that I issue to all of us.
[Jennifer Lawless, a political science professor at
Brown University, author of It Takes a Candidate: Why
Women Don't Run for Office
and 2006 candidate for Congress from Rhode Island,
describes the barriers to public office women face.]
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