When Women Run Against Men

The Women of the Pennsylvania General Assembly: Explaining Women’s Representation in Pennsylvania State Politics

“…In contrast, 21.2% of men had run against incumbents, and 78.8% had run for open seats (The Pennsylvania General Assembly 2015). Women are somewhat less likely than men to challenge an incumbent, perhaps because of a lack of confidence in their qualifications (Fox and Lawless 2010a, 2010b, 2013, even though there is no significant difference in the performance of female and male candidates (Darcy and Schramm 1977;Jenkins 2007;Schlozman and Uhlaner 1986).…”

Gender, Informal Institutions and Political Recruitment

“…In other words, the greatest obstacle for women is that they do not become candidates in the first place. Once women manage to become selected as candidates, their electoral chances are roughly equal to those of their male counterparts (Darcy and Schramm 1977, Darcy et al 1994, Htun 2005, Rule 1987, Welch and Studlar 1986. Several important studies of political recruitment have thus named political parties the main gatekeeper for the political representation of marginalized groups, and there is a fairly strong scholarly consensus that candidate selection in political parties is key to our understanding of representation in all or most electoral contexts (Baer 1993, Caul 1999, Dahlerup 2007, Gallagher and Marsh 1988, Matland 2005, Norris and Lovenduski 1995.…”

Removing Quotas, Maintaining Representation: Overcoming Gender Inequalities in Political Party Recruitment

“…Even though research shows little evidence of a penalty for women candidates among voters (see e.g. Darcy andSchramm, 1977, Welch andStudlar, 1986), it is important to note that it is still possible that party gatekeepers assume that women candidates are more likely to lose the election than male candidates. 7 Male candidates might be seen as being stronger, more competent or simply more in line with the established picture of a politician.…”