Women Make For Better Candidates, But Still Get Treated Like School Girls

Posted by: Robin Marty
Care2 Causes and News
May 30 2010


I've been saying it forever - women make amazing candidates for office. I still firmly believe that had women been in charge, healthcare reform would have been a much smoother process with a many more victories for the uninsured and underinsured.

But I'm not the only who believes it. In fact, Elect Women Magazine is so sure it's true, that they have released the "Five Reasons Women Make Better Candidates." And the list is pretty compelling.

Top 5 Reasons Why Women Make Great Local Political Campaign Candidates

1. Natural Communication Skills

While nothing in this post is meant to stereotype men or women, it’s a fact that females are often more talented and comfortable in the realm of effective communication.

Being able to communicate your ideas in a compelling fashion is a vital trait for political candidates, and the person who can do so naturally–without having to be taught how–has an advantage in any campaign. Many voters find the communication style of women candidates more appealing, which helps in both one-on-one grassroots situations and public forums or debates.

2. Higher Thresholds for Campaign Trail Stress

The rigors of the campaign trail–even in local elections–can be much more demanding and stressful than new candidates expect. A woman’s innate ability to process and deal with stressful situations calmly is a huge boon in political campaigns.

Not all men are hotheads, but a male political candidate is much more likely to respond to respond to the steady stress of campaigning in a damaging fashion. Angry outbursts, impulsive comments and bad attitudes just aren’t as common in female candidates.

3. Better Ability Make Supporters & Volunteers Feel Appreciated

One of the most important–and overlooked–things that political candidates can do for their campaigns is making employees, volunteers and supporters feel as though their hard work is appreciated.

I can’t tell you how many male candidates I’ve worked with who treat their staff and volunteers like dirt, which leads to awful productivity. This kind of arrogance and lack of empathy might be present in some women candidates, as well, but it isn’t as common. Women are often much better at letting people know how important and needed they are.

4. Lower Likelihood for “Skeletons in the Closet”

Sure, women can have their secrets, too, but they are much less likely than men to have career-destroying skeletons hanging in the closet. As a campaign manager, one of your greatest fears is that something scandalous is going to be revealed about your candidate in the last few weeks of the election.

Male candidates certainly don’t have a corner on the scandal market, but many of them do seem to have more political baggage. How often do you see a scandal involving a female politician in the news?

5. Greater Voter Appeal and Demographic Advantages

It’s a well-known fact in political consulting circles that a female candidate will often run a few points ahead of a male challenger just because she is a woman. We’re not going to explore the reasons for this, but in most districts, being a woman is automatically going to give you a head start in the race.

Of all of the reasons that Elect Women give, perhaps the only one that I would consider challenging is number 4, that women have less skeletons in the closet. First, as we've recently learned from the Nikki Haley incident in South Carolina, alleged infidelity isn't simply a man's game these days. Also, should the skeletons really exist or not, it often seems like the press guns much harder for scandals involving women, as we saw in the "Is Trig Really Sarah Palin's Baby" rumor of the last election cycle.

Sadly, even if the women candidates do fulfill their promise, and win their elections, they still have to deal with the Frat Boy mentality that is Congress. As Wonkette reports, there is a new book coming out that shows exactly how hard it can be for women politicians to be treated with respect by their male counterparts once they are in office.


Sen. Amy Klobuchar experienced one of her ‘most embarrassing moments’ when, while presiding over the Senate, a page handed her a note signed ‘Anonymous’ that read, ‘Pull up your shirt.’”

That anecdote is one of the more revealing… in a new book, “The Upper House: A Journey Behind the Closed Doors of the U.S. Senate,” by journalist Terence Samuel.

According to Samuel’s book, the Minnesota Democrat’s unintentional flesh-baring became a joke among some Senators, including Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), and the next time Klobuchar presided over the chamber, she got a second anonymous note. “Your earrings don’t match,” it read. “When she looked up, Tester was cracking up in the back row.”

Women may have less scandals than their male political counterparts, but that doesn't seem to stop the men from treating them badly.