Women are more than half the population, and underrepresented at every level of government. To fix this, more women need to run for office. 

“We operate in a world where people see men as candidates. And men see themselves that way. Women – even those who are highly educated, well-credentialed, and politically engaged – often do not,” researchers at the Center for Effective Lawmaking wrote, based on their decennial survey on citizens’ political ambition. 

Political leaders aren’t actively discouraging women to run, the researchers found, but the leaders recruited men as potential candidates at a much higher rate than women. When women do run, they tend to run as Democrats. Democratic women in the current House and Senate outnumber Republican women by almost 3 to 1.

The 2024 election cycle is reinforcing these trends. Democratic women won 46% of their primaries, compared to 17% of Republican women. Voters in both parties tend to assume that women candidates are more liberal than male candidates, which may hurt Republican women more than Democrats. 

But organizers often cite fundraising, not bias, as the biggest barrier to more women in politics. Most victorious House campaigns now cost millions of dollars and Senate campaigns tens of millions.When women run, the data suggests they can fundraise just as effectively as men, in some races raising more, though they’re less likely to self-fund their campaigns and more likely to rely on small-dollar donors. This is why democracy experts argue increasing public funding for elections could help create a pipeline for more women candidates.

New York state, for example, just recently implemented a small donor match system, which multiplies in-district donations under $250 to state legislative candidates. Fourteen states and 26 municipalities have enacted similar laws. But at the present rate, it could take another 118 years for Congress to reach gender parity.

This month, we’re watching “Girls State” and “Boys State,” two documentaries that follow teens learning about democracy and politics by participating in a mock government. Both films are available to stream on Apple TV+ with a subscription.