Gender Roles, Work-Life Balance, and Running for Office
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12802480 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rachel A Silbermann (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 123-153 |
| Publication date | 2015-06-24 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Quarterly Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1554-0626 • E-ISSN: 1554-0634 |
| Publisher | Now Publishers (PUBLISHER • NL) |
| DOI | 10.1561/100.00014087 |
| OpenAlex | W2261780915 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 43 |
| References cited | 49 |
Political scientists have studied why so few women run for office in the United States, but explanations concerning the challenge of balancing work and life have received little empirical support. I present two forms of data to show how expectations about work-life balance affect the supply of potential women politicians. The common thread in these analyses is that time spent traveling to and from work is particularly burdensome for those who spend time caring for children. Because women do a majority of the child care and housework, commuting is particularly burdensome to women. Analyzing a novel data set, I find that women are less likely to run for state legislative office in districts further from state capitals. I validate these results with an original survey experiment run on undergraduates in the midst of choosing their own careers. I find that female students weigh proximity to home twice as heavily as male students do in a hypothetical decision of whether to run for higher office. These results suggest that equal representation of women in government would require men and women to share household responsibilities more equally
Balance (ability · Demographic economics · Economics · Government (linguistics · Legislature · Political science · Politics · Representation (politics · State (computer science · Work (physics · Work–life balance · Computer Science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Engineering · Gender Politics and Representation · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Law · Psychology
Breadwinner backlash
Making Sense of the Gendered Playing Field in Politics
Cultural information dynamics and the rise of women in Norway’s state and military
How can we improve gender balance in local government? Family-friendly policies and static ambition in England
Baker, Bus Driver, Babysitter, Candidate? Revealing the Gendered Development of Political Ambition Among Ordinary Americans
Clinical Social Workers, Gender, and Perceptions of Political Participation
Gendered dynamics in representation
An election too far
Gender, risk assessment, and political ambition
A Rich Woman's World? Wealth and Gendered Paths to Office
Understanding hidden layers in political participation
Gender differences in political career progression
Stronger together
Youth national service and women's political ambition
Do Republican and Democratic legislators have polarized views of their district’s demographics
Does Exposure to Gender Role Models Increase Women’s Political Ambition? A Field Experiment with Politicians
Emphasizing or downplaying political ambitions
Child Penalties in Politics
Conditional Representation
Party animals, career changers and other pathways into parliament
What Have We Learned about Gender from Candidate Choice Experiments? A Meta-Analysis of Sixty-Seven Factorial Survey Experiments
What Explains Low Female Political Representation? Evidence from Survey Experiments in Japan
Mind the Gender Gap
Labor Union Membership and Women’s Political Ambition
Media Discrimination and Gender Differences in Political Ambition in a Laboratory Experiment
Recruitment and Perceptions of Gender Bias in Party Leader Support
It Takes a Motive
The Application of Social Role Theory to the Study of Gender in Politics
Something to Run for
Pink‐Collar Representation and Budgetary Outcomes in US States
Analyzing gender gaps in bicameral legislatures
Legislative pay and voluntary retirement in the American states
Confident and cautious candidates
How to Elect More Women
Working Mothers and Political Daughters
Crowded Out
Between Occupation and Politics
Multiplying Faces and Amplifying Voices
Barriers to the participation of women in community development process in rural Ghana
The Ties That Double Bind
Women Grab Back
To Emerge? Breadwinning, Motherhood, and Women's Decisions to Run for Office
Does Paying Politicians More Promote Economic Diversity in Legislatures
Women as candidates in American politics
The American mosaic
The Difference
Do Women Shy Away From Competition? Do Men Compete Too Much?
Students as Experimental Participants
Is There a Quiet Revolution in Women's Travel? Revisiting the Gender Gap in Commuting
Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Differences in Dementia Caregiving
Women’s Employment and Commuting
Women as Policy Makers
Women, War, and Winning Elections
Women, War, and Winning Elections
The Influence of Term Limits on the Electoral Success of Women
Why do so few women work in New York (and so many in Minneapolis)? Labor supply of married women across US cities
Do Term Limits Help Women Get Elected
The Long Road to the Fast Track
Getting There
Objectifying Sarah Palin
Agenda Setting and Legislative Success in State Legislatures
The Political Economy of Gender
Does the Numerical Underrepresentation of the Working Class in Congress Matter
District Magnitude's Effect on Female Representation in U. S. State Legislatures
Changes in the Election of Women to U. S. State Legislative Seats
Gender, Race, and Descriptive Representation in the United States
The Impact of Women on State Legislative Policies
Women Running “as Women
If Only They’d Ask
Multi-Member Districts and the Representation of Women
When Women Run Against Men
Gendered Recruitment without Trying
The “Gender Gap” in State Legislative Representation
The Sense of a Woman
Legislative Professionalization and Membership Diversity in State Legislatures
The Effects of Term Limits on State Legislatures
Connecting Descriptive and Substantive Representation
Work and Power
Gender Stereotypes and the Perception of Male and Female Candidates
Gender Stereotypes and Vote Choice
To Run or Not to Run for Office
Entering the Arena? Gender and the Decision to Run for Office
Gender Stereotypes and Citizens' Impressions of House Candidates' Ideological Orientations
The Cost of Workplace Flexibility for High-Powered Professionals
Puzzles of Women's Rights in Brazil
Women candidates and voter bias
The Private Roots of Public Action
| Unique citing works | 43 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4,3 |
| Citation span | 2016 - 2026 (11) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 42 |