When and why does the political ambition gap between women and men originate? Bos et al. (2022) develop and test a new framework of “gendered political socialization” to demonstrate how childhood perceptions of politics restrict girls’ political interest and aspirations from an early age.
Drawing on data from 1,604 children across four distinct regions in the United States, the study examines how young people conceptualize gender within the political domain and how these views shape early differences in political ambition. The authors find that children readily view politics as a male-dominated environment, with girls increasingly viewing political leadership as a “man’s world” as they mature. Concurrently, as children age, they internalize societal gender expectations that channel their career aspirations toward roles deemed congruent with their own gender. This perceived mismatch between women and political life leads girls to demonstrate systematically lower levels of political interest and ambition compared to boys, identifying early socialization as a critical source of long-term gender disparities in governance.
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Bos, A. L., Greenlee, J. S., Holman, M. R., Oxley, Z. M., & Lay, J. C. (2022). This One’s for the Boys: How Gendered Political Socialization Limits Girls’ Political Ambition and Interest. American Political Science Review, 116(2), 484–501. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055421001027