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"Across generations, women have been less likely than men to run for office, despite changing attitudes toward women in politics. This new edition offers a systematic account of the challenges women face throughout the candidate emergence process, featuring new survey data and interviews with potential candidates"--
List of contents
1. Still a man's world? 2. Gender and candidate emergence; 3. The gender gap in political ambition; 4. Family dynamics and running for office; 5. Gender, party, and political recruitment; 6. Gendered self-perceptions of candidate viability; 7. Taking the plunge; 8. The persistent gender gap in political ambition.
About the author
Jennifer L. Lawless is Leone Reaves and George W. Spicer Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia. She has written or co-authored nine books, including News Hole: The Demise of Journalism and Political Engagement (2021), which won the 2023 Goldsmith Book Prize. Her research, which has appeared in numerous academic journals, is regularly cited in the popular press. She is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Political Science.Richard L. Fox is Dean of the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts and Professor of Political Science at Loyola Marymount University. He has written numerous books and articles focusing on the US Congress, elections, media, and gender. His work has appeared in top disciplinary journals including the American Political Science Review and the American Journal of Political Science. He has also published op-eds in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.
Summary
It Takes More Than a Candidate remains the only systematic account of the gender gap in political ambition. Based on national surveys of more than 10,000 potential candidates in 2001, 2011, and 2021, the book shows that women, even in the highest tiers of professional accomplishment, are substantially less likely than men to demonstrate ambition to seek elective office. The gender gap in persists across generations and over time, despite society's changing attitudes toward women in politics. Women remain less likely to be recruited to run for office, less likely to think they are qualified to run, and less likely to express a willingness to run for office in the future. In the twenty years since It Takes a Candidate was first published, the book remains timely and eye-opening, highlighting the challenges women face navigating the candidate emergence process and providing insight into the persistent gender gap in political ambition.
Foreword
Examines the persistent gender gap in political ambition, despite changes to the electoral environment over the last 20 years.
