The Invincible Gender Gap in Political Ambition

Richard L. Fox, Jennifer L. Lawless

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

When we uncovered a large gender gap in political ambition in the early 2000s, our research highlighted how far the United States was from gender parity in politics. Given marked increases in women’s numeric representation throughout the past two decades, many might expect the gender gap in political ambition to have begun to close. Results from our new study of potential candidates, however, reveal that the magnitude of the gender gap is just as large 20 years later, and two primary explanations persist as well. We posit that even though candidate recruitment has propelled more women into electoral politics, patterns of traditional gender socialization persist. These dynamics, coupled with negative perceptions of how female candidates are treated, continue to depress women’s interest in elective office. As long as running for office is a more remote endeavor for women than men, women’s full political inclusion will remain a distant goal.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)231-237
Number of pages7
JournalPS - Political Science and Politics
Volume57
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2023

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Sociology and Political Science

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