No Excuses Allowed: Tackling The #1 Reason Women Don't Run For Office

I don't cross-post my freelance writing work often but given how I've been urging Pepper Pike residents to find, recruit, support, run and elect whatever kind of thinkers they are looking for, I thought this piece of writing would be of interest.

In 2004 and again in 2008, Jennifer Lawless (Director, Women & Politics Institute, American University) and Robert Fox published reports that examine why women don't run for elected position. The first was called Why Don't Women Run For Office?, and Why Are Women Still Not Running For Office? was the follow up. Both reports eventually were published as books.

While seen as mostly accurate in nailing a number of issues related to the paucity of women in elected office, especially the suggestion that women may be victims of an ambition gap, there also was some criticism of that perspective being placed above systemic sexism.

I personally don't buy the ambition gap per se, or even the assertion in an article from just a few weeks ago, Stagnating Gains For Women in Politics, that "The central obstacle to getting more women in elected office is the fact that they are less likely to even want to run for office." [bold emphasis is mine]

Read the full post here and feel free to comment.


FYI: I will be keynoting a training program hosted by The White House Project and BlogHer.com in NYC as the "Inspirational Call to Action" speaker. So if you think I sound like a broken record around town telling people, "Don't get mad, get elected," you aren't the only ones.