It’s Almost 2025. A Good Year To Run for Office.

By Erica and Karen

We’ve just had quite the election. One obvious point—a woman was not elected president. The United States rreally should be a leader in this regard. We are not.

But—many women were elected to state and federal positions. (Apparently Mississippi is the only state never to have sent a woman to Congress!)

Now that a new year is upon us—what’s next?

We think one next thing that should be on the agenda—at least for some of us—is running for office. (By us we mean you! We do not plan to run.)

It won’t be easy if you are a woman, especially an older woman.

Majorities say not having experience in elected office and being older than 70 hurts men’s and women’s chances a lot or a little, but more see a negative impact for women. About 80% say each of these traits hurts a woman’s chances of getting elected, compared with about 60% who say these traits hurt a man’s chances.

By wide margins, more also say the following traits hurt a woman’s chances of being elected than say they hurt a man’s chances:

• Showing emotions: 58% say this hurts a woman’s chances, compared with 33% who say it hurts a man’s chances of being elected.

• Having young children at home: 48% say this hurts a woman’s chances of being elected, while just 7% say it has a similar impact on a man’s chances. In fact, 28% say having children at home helps a man’s chances of getting elected, compared with 14% who say this helps women running for office.

• Being assertive: More say being assertive helps than say it hurts both men and women running for office. But while 73% say this trait helps men, fewer (49%) say it helps women. Some 29% say being assertive hurts a woman’s chances of getting elected, compared with 6% who say it hurts a man’s chances.

Being physically attractive is the only trait we asked about that is seen by majorities as having a positive impact on both a man’s and a woman’s chances. But more say being physically attractive helps women than say it helps men running for office (66% vs. 60%).

Apparently sex is a greater negative no matter one’s race’.

[W]omen are seen as having a bigger disadvantage than men in the same racial or ethnic group. For example, 54% think American voters are less likely to vote for a candidate who is a Black woman, compared with 37% who say voters are less likely to vote for a Black man.

The same pattern exists to varying degrees for Hispanic or Asian candidates: In each case, a greater share of Americans say voters are less likely to support a woman than a man.

These are clear obstacles. But it may be that the biggest obstacle is our own reluctance to lose, because we feel as if we don’t really know what we are doing. Fair enough, but if fear of failure overrides other impulses, we just kneecap themselves.

[F]ear of failure was most prevalent in high-achieving female students attending schools with high-achieving peers in more gender-equal societies. Borgonovi & Han (2021) deduced possible causes of this result. Women fear failing because they feel pressured to debunk gender stereotypes and fulfill the standards of being successful women. Additionally, because of society’s emphasis on success, women find it shameful when they do not live up to the ideal of female empowerment. Consequently, it is possible that women avoid educational and career paths that involve failure. However, male students perceive failure as a possible outcome and do not feel ashamed of failing. Societal norms seem to shape gender differences in fear of failure.

And now there are resources available to help you, like She Should Run. Here’s what ththey do:

As a nonpartisan nonprofit, we drive public dialogue about women’s representation and offer first-step resources designed for women whose formidable leadership potential would go otherwise untapped in conventional political recruitment.

Women do run. Here are some past statistics. Women run after retirement. And they win.

Think about it! And let us know if you take the plunge.