After almost a year since Trump was elected to the presidency, I wondered how this affected women and their political aspirations.
Cosmopolitan magazine recently took a survey with respondents ranging from ages 18-34 and asked them how the political climate after the election made them feel about involving themselves in politics. The results were about equal when you compare the numbers of women less likely to run v. the numbers of women inspired to run.
One respondent Ariel Dye, 27, lives in California and said that she’s been intrigued by the idea of holding a political office since she served as her high school class president. But she said the election brought home just how difficult politics can be for women — and especially women of color. “I feel like it’s something I should think about doing as a black women because we’re so underrepresented,” she said. “But realistically, with this combative political climate, I don’t think the country would be receptive to someone like me.”
72% of the respondents answered that it is harder for a woman to get elected than a man. Women feel less motivated to take on political roles because they feel they’ll be more heavily scrutinized than there male peers.
I asked myself a lot of questions upon thinking about this issue. How do we make political life more accessible to women? Why are women judged more harshly as political actors than men? What can we do to change these perspectives?
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