Girls Just Wanna Not Run: The Gender Gap in Young Americans’ Political Ambition by Jennifer L. Lawless and Richard L. Fox Based on the results of a new survey of more than 2,100 American college students between the ages of 18 and 25 which assessed the likelihood of running for public office in the United States of America and the “gender gap in ambition”, Jennifer L. Lawless, Associate Professor of Government at American University, and Richard L. Fox, Professor of Political Science at Loyola Marymount University, discovered that men were twice as likely to report that they “definitely” plan to run for office than women whereas women were 50% more likely to indicate that they had “absolutely no interest” in a future candidacy, as seen in
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Swedish political parties have pushed for gender parity since the 1970’s, and generally “adhere to the 60/40 principle: neither sex is to have more than 60 percent nor less than 40 percent of representation within party ranks” (Wicks and Lang-Dion, 2008, pg. 36). The principle is not formally legislated; rather, it is expected from political parties by the public and thus essential for a party’s electoral success (Wicks and Lang-Dion, 2008). In Iceland, the Althingi created a multi-party committee alongside women’s organizations to increase representation of women. The committee launched an awareness campaign in 1997 which Wicks and Lang-Dion (2008) describe as “a well funded, five year awareness campaign which included: a humorous, attention-getting advertising program, training courses, education, communications networks, public meetings, and mentoring programs” (Wicks and Lang-Dion, 2008, pg. 36). Within one year of the campaign, female representation increased from 25% to 35% (Wicks and Lang-Dion, 2008). Wicks and Lang-Dion (2008) suggest that Canadian political parties nominate more women so that Canada can reach the 30-35% female representation threshold recommended by the United Nations for women’s priorities to be reflected in legislatures and “changes in “management style, group dynamic and organization culture” take place” (Wicks and Lang-Dion, 2008, pg.
Swedish political parties have pushed for gender parity since the 1970’s, and generally “adhere to the 60/40 principle: neither sex is to have more than 60 percent nor less than 40 percent of representation within party ranks” (Wicks and Lang-Dion, 2008, pg. 36). The principle is not formally legislated; rather, it is expected from political parties by the public and thus essential for a party’s electoral success (Wicks and Lang-Dion, 2008). In Iceland, the Althingi created a multi-party committee alongside women’s organizations to increase representation of women. The committee launched an awareness campaign in 1997 which Wicks and Lang-Dion (2008) describe as “a well funded, five year awareness campaign which included: a humorous, attention-getting advertising program, training courses, education, communications networks, public meetings, and mentoring programs” (Wicks and Lang-Dion, 2008, pg. 36). Within one year of the campaign, female representation increased from 25% to 35% (Wicks and Lang-Dion, 2008). Wicks and Lang-Dion (2008) suggest that Canadian political parties nominate more women so that Canada can reach the 30-35% female representation threshold recommended by the United Nations for women’s priorities to be reflected in legislatures and “changes in “management style, group dynamic and organization culture” take place” (Wicks and Lang-Dion, 2008, pg.