Written by Samantha Fulton
February 2, 2022
I remember when I was in the 8th grade and Hillary Clinton was running for president. I was excited about the prospect of a female president. When I voiced this excitement to a fellow female classmate, I received a look of confusion. “Don’t you think a woman would be too emotional to be a good president?” she asked me. I was shocked. How could a girl have such a negative view of her own gender? How did she not see that a female president would pave the way for so many women, maybe even ourselves included? I was not yet aware of what political socialization was or why a young girl would be so unenthused about a woman in leadership. I have since learned that my classmate was and is not alone in her lack of enthusiasm regarding female leadership. In a society built to empower men, it is hard for a woman to see other women, let alone herself, as capable of being in a position of power, but what is perpetuating this pattern? As it turns out, the lack of political ambition in women is strongly due to the political socialization, or lack thereof, that they receive from parents, school, and society.
In 2013, Jennifer Lawless and Richard Fox conducted a study examining a potential cause for the lack of women in office: the political ambition gap. The study found that women are socialized differently than men when it comes to politics and that this decreases women’s desire to run for political office. A survey done by Lawless and Fox shows that, when growing up, women receive significantly less support from both mother and father to pursue a political career; Lawless and Fox state, “Overall, 40 percent of male respondents, but only 29 percent of female respondents, reported encouragement to run for office later in life from at least one parent.” The same study shows that women are less likely than men to receive support to pursue a career in politics from anyone, including other family members, peers, and mentors, with 49 percent of men receiving encouragement to run for office from at least one source compared to only 35% of women. Of course, other factors play into the difference in political ambition, including men being more immersed in competitive environments from a young age, as well as women being less likely to be exposed to political information (Lawless and Fox, 2013).
However, the cause for lack of political ambition discussed by Lawless and Fox that stands out the most to me is that “young women are less likely than young men to think they will be qualified to run for office, even once they are established in their careers.” This is where it comes back to my young classmate expressing her concern about a woman being too emotional to be a good president. She was not just talking about Hillary Clinton; she was talking about all women—she was talking about herself. If my classmate could not even bring herself to believe that a qualified politician could be president on account of her gender, then who are we to think that any young girl out there will bring herself to believe that she could be president one day?
According to Jasneet Hora, “Female legislators tend to sponsor more bills in areas like civil rights, health, and education,” and take a different approach to leadership that can be beneficial to society. Hora also highlights the importance of the “role model effect” in encouraging other women to run for office. Having women in politics has clear benefits, so one might think that society should be doing more to encourage girls and women to pursue leadership roles, but nonetheless, my classmate thought a woman should not be president just because she is a woman. There may be hope yet, however, with America having its first female vice president. Perhaps this can be seen as an opportunity to show the young girls of the next generation that their gender should not limit what they will go on to achieve. It is my hope that, as female leadership increases, so too will the belief of young girls and women that, not only are they qualified to run for office, but they are also capable of breaking the cycle of predominantly male leadership by empowering the generations of women to come to follow in their footsteps.
Sources:
Hora, J. (2019). Shattering the highest and hardest glass ceiling, once and for all: How the 2020 election can change governance in the U.S. and beyond. Journal of International Affairs, 72(2), 133-144. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/26760838
Lawless, J., & Fox, R. (2013). Girls just wanna not run: The gender gap in young Americans’ political ambition. Retrieved from: https://www.american.edu/spa/wpi/upload/girls-just- wanna-not-run_policy-report.pdf
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