Why Women Don't Run for Office (As Much As Men Do)

Submitted by anthony on Thu, 2012-01-12 18:47

Article here. Excerpt:

'In the United States, women make up only 16.9% of our national legislature (i.e., Congress). That places us 91st in the world. In a new report, Jennifer Lawless and Richard Fox conclude that there are seven big reasons why women continue to lag so far behind men in the political world:

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.'

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Comments

Rather than listing any shortcomings the women may actually have, the list denounces any "flawed" perceptions on the part of women (not confident enough) and men (not likely to suggest a women run for office) as the real reason for the shortage of women in office. No blame is actually placed at their feet for lack of ability.

As an example, note #4:
3. Women are much less likely than men to think they are qualified to run for office.

Is there anywhere on the list that mentions that women, generally speaking, are less qualified to run for office, as politics is not something that many are interested in? Nope.

MAJ

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Submitted by digital_dreamer on Fri, 2012-01-13 05:16

The real issue is that we only want women in charge for its own sake.

NOT because they're actually competent.

Then again, that's what we get from a population that mostly likes American Idol...

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Submitted by dudejo on Fri, 2012-01-13 10:58