The Gist

Why Don’t More Women Run for Congress? 

Some people say there’s a bias against women running for political office. So gender and politics scholar Jennifer Lawless went looking for it.

Former Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein in Washington, D.C., in July 2000.

Bill Clark/Roll Call/Getty Images

Listen to Episode 597 of Slate’s The Gist:

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On The Gist, Jennifer Lawless details the reasons more women don’t run for elected office in the United States. Her research documents a decline in media bias against women running for House seats. Despite that, Congress is still overwhelmingly male. Lawless authored a book with Danny Hayes called Women on the Run: Gender, Media, and Political Campaigns in a Polarized Era.

For the Spiel, Bob Dylan didn’t need a Nobel Prize to confirm his status as a great writer.

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Email: thegist@slate.com
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