Thursday, January 13, 2005

Women in Government, Part2

A friend theorized on another roadblock to women and elected office: the selection process itself. An election campaign is a chess match, strategic sparring, daily sparing by headline, a contest to capture votes – in essence, a war. Many elections become an aggressive affair, with candidates throwing accusations and counter-charges. This warfare is carried out in the open and covertly. ‘Opposition research’ is an academic term for ‘getting the dirt’ on the other candidate to use for ammunition

If the premise is correct – that the male make-up is slightly tilted toward the aggression spectrum, rather than the nurturing – then the elective process can actually favor men.

Hey, Matt – we’re gonna have to find some actual research on this sometime. I’m sure some political scientist has done their doctoral thesis on this or a variation thereof.

Jonathan?

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