It Still Takes A Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office

Description

It Still Takes A Candidate serves as the only systematic, nationwide empirical account of the manner in which gender affects political ambition. Based on data from the Citizen Political Ambition Panel Study, a national survey conducted of almost 3,800 'potential candidates' in 2001 and a second survey of more than 2,000 of these same individuals in 2008, Jennifer L. Lawless and Richard L. Fox find that women, even in the highest tiers of professional accomplishment, are substantially less likely than men to demonstrate ambition to seek elective office. Women are less likely than men to be recruited to run for office. They are less likely than men to think they are qualified to run for office. And they are less likely than men to express a willingness to run for office in the future. This gender gap in political ambition persists across generations and over time.

Jennifer L. Lawless is an Associate Professor of Government at the American University, where she is also the Director of the Women and Politics Institute. She was previously a Professor at Brown University, with a courtesy appointment at the Taubman Center for Public Policy. Professor Lawless has published numerous articles in academic journals, such as the American Journal of Political Science, Perspectives, the Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Social Problems, and Politics and Gender. She is a nationally recognized speaker, and her scholarly analysis and political commentary have been quoted in various newspapers, magazines, television news programs, and radio shows. Richard L. Fox is Associate Professor of Political Science at Loyola Marymount University. His research examines how gender affects voting behavior, state executive elections, congressional elections, and political ambition. He is the author of Gender Dynamics in Congressional Elections (1997) and co-author of Tabloid Justice: The Criminal Justice System in the Age of Media Frenzy (2001). He is also co-editor, with Susan J. Carroll, of Gender and Elections, second edition (2010). His work has appeared in Political Psychology, the Journal of Politics, the American Journal of Political Science, Social Problems, PS, and Politics and Gender. He has also written op-ed articles, some of which have appeared in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

"The findings of It Still Takes A Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office fundamentally change our understanding of women's political engagement. The authors' groundbreaking research revolutionizes how we must approach closing the political gender gap. The work of Lawless and Fox is immeasurably important as we fight for gender equality in our government and encourage more women to 'take the plunge' and seek elected office. It Still Takes A Candidate provides a critical tool in changing the face of U.S. politics." - Siobhan "Sam" Bennett, President/CEO of WCF (formerly Women's Campaign Fund)