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Positioning Women to Win: New Strategies for Turning Gender Stereotypes into Competitive Advantages
Positioning Women to Win: New Strategies for Turning Gender Stereotypes into Competitive Advantages (350K)
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The Barbara Lee Family Foundation releases groundbreaking research showing that women governors rate higher than male governors on a number of key attributes, suggesting that voters strongly support women in executive office once they have seen them govern.
The bipartisan research profiled and analyzed the 2006 gubernatorial campaigns of 11 Democratic and Republican women candidates - including five incumbents who all won re-election. This marks an unprecedented number of women candidates seeking chief executive office.
"Women governors are exceeding and redefining voter expectations," said Barbara Lee, Principal of the Barbara Lee Family Foundation. "The research shows that as voters see more women in executive leadership, many of their doubts about them as governors are lifted."
Women running for office still face unique hurdles, which the research shows can be effectively overcome. Following are some key findings from the research:
-Voters rate women governors higher than male governors by more than 10 points on a number of key attributes, including; managing a crisis well, getting things done, and problem solving. Male governors are more likely to be seen as too partisan and as typical politicians.
- Voters are still more likely to draw a distinction between toughness and strength for women candidates. Both strength and toughness are necessary for a woman's candidacy to succeed and they must prove themselves on both fronts. Voters tend to meld these qualities when evaluating male candidates.
- While incumbent women were able to remain competitive with men in fundraising, non-incumbent women candidates faced challenges breaking into financial circles that are traditionally dominated by men. This fundraising challenge dissipated for incumbent women.
- Successful candidates conveyed confidence and did not shy away from displaying the ambition it takes to win.
