WHY WOMEN DON'T RUN FOR OFFICE AND WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THEY DO

At WAPPP’s Gender and Politics Seminar Series in March 2009, Jennifer Lawless, Assistant Professor at Brown University, analyzed the reasons why women do not run for political office.  Lawless herself ran for Congress in 2006.  After her race, she decided to study the impetus for women not entering politics as candidates.  She interviewed 4,000 men and women who have careers in business, law, education and political activism: the four fields for the majority of politicians’ backgrounds.  She also conducted extended interviews with 200 of them. 

Men in the U.S. overwhelmingly occupy the majority of elected positions: at the time of her study, 84 percent of the seats in the U.S. House, 83 percent in the U.S. Senate, 86 percent of governors, 78 percent in state legislatures and 89 percent of city halls in large cities.  Globally, the U.S. ranked 83rd in national legislatures at the time of her study.

Lawless examined the gender gap in political ambition, or interest in running for office.  Women are one-third less likely to consider running for office, to investigate and prepare to run for office and less likely to actually run for office.  Lawless found three factors that influence this gap between men and women’s ambitions for political office: socialization, qualifications and recruitment.

Regarding socialization, women’s roles and responsibilities at home play a huge role in their decision to pursue politics.  Women face a double-bind; they must tend to household tasks and childcare duties even if they work in paid employment roles.  As a result, politics becomes a third job for them.  For women, success is defined in their personal lives and not just in business.  In theory, the public approves of women in political office.  Yet the reality exists that the public only approves of women so long as they accomplish and fulfill every other role that society expects of them: wife, mother, caregiver, etc.  Among those interested in running for office, many women say they will run after their children are grown.  However, this delay in entering politics affects their political career trajectory.

In addition, women not only think they cannot run but that they are not qualified to hold public office.  Lawless found that women are not only adverse to conducting campaign activities such as fundraising, they are deterred by their costs and they doubt their ability to do them well.  However, more than two-thirds of women and men engaged in politically relevant skills and characteristics in their jobs and homes.  While fundraising remains one of the top perceived barriers for women to run for office, women raise more money than men in state legislatures. 

Recruitment is the third crucial component in running for office.  Women are 8 percent less likely to be asked to run by friends and family, even when they perform the same jobs and have the same level of political activism as men.  Women’s organizations currently focus on political recruitment.  However, non-partisan groups often have a litmus test for pro-choice women or those with a liberal agenda.  Women’s groups facilitate access to the “gatekeepers,” the electoral party leaders who can give access to party support when running for office.  Lawless discovered a perception difference in recruitment: even when asked, women did not take attempts at recruiting them seriously while men needed very little encouragement.

In addition to these three factors, socialization, perceived qualification and recruitment that impact women’s chances of entering politics as candidates, running for office in student government and/or a politicized upbringing, such as discussing politics or having a parent who ran for office, also affect the likelihood of running for office.  Women’s organizations recruit and train women to run for office, yet it is still too soon to determine if it will have a lasting impact.  While gender socialization can be an obstacle for women, it can simultaneously benefit candidates.  Women politicians are more likely to recruit other women.  Also, women are more likely to champion women’s and children’s issues.  Women must reassess their qualifications – quite often, they are more than ready to run.

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