… Hillary Clinton is poised to become the first female major-party presidential nominee in U.S. history. Congress is more than 80 percent male. And women’s under-representation is similar at virtually every other level of office. So it’s reasonable to assume that it’s harder for women to get elected than it is for men.
Indeed, our own surveys find that nearly 60 percent of Americans thinks the media covers women in a sexist way. Roughly half believe that women have to be more qualified than men to win office. And nearly one-third say that women who run for office don’t win as often as men do, or raise as much money.
But they’re wrong. There’s another factor that keeps women out of politics — and it’s far more overwhelming than gender bias. We’ll explain below. CONT.
Danny Hayes (GWU) & Jennifer L. Lawless (American U.), The Monkey Cage