Honors Thesis Archive
| Author | Tracey Tackett |
|---|---|
| Title | Barriers to Elected Office: Does Gender Matter? |
| Department | Organizational Leadership |
| Advisor | |
| Year | 2022 |
| Honors | University Honors |
| Full Text | View Thesis (11126 KB) Note: This is a very large file; it may be easier to download the file to your computer and open it from there. |
| Abstract | Even though women comprise more than 51% of the population of the United States, they still only represent approximately one quarter of the primary political representation in the country. High profile campaigns by female candidates in recent years have served to spotlight some of the gender-related barriers that still exist today. The scrutiny of the candidates and campaigns of Hilary Clinton, Sarah Palin and, more recently, Kamala Harris, give evidence of the disparities that exist between the treatment of male and female candidates by the public and the media. Even though women have had political power via their right to vote for just over a century, there are still gender-related barriers that exist as women strive to take a more active and representative role in the political arena. This thesis hypothesizes that men and women differ in the biases experienced in political campaigning. An e-mail survey was sent out to a number of individuals who had held or campaigned for political office in three Ohio counties. The top three campaign barriers identified collectively by survey respondents were difficulties meeting constituents and connecting with voters, funding and fundraising, and challenges associated with political party identification and lack of party support for some candidates. While the objective of the survey was primarily intended to identify and investigate gender-related barriers experienced by local candidates, results served to highlight some barriers that were common to all candidates and were therefore not uniquely gender-related. Although some common barriers clearly existed, the challenges presented by those common barriers appear to have been increased for female candidates. Biases mentioned by female survey respondents included traditional gender role expectations, particularly the “mother” role, biases associated with physical appearance and fashion choices, lack of political party support, and campaign finance and funding issues. |
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