My colleagues Nancy Thomas and Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg have an article in Diversity & Democracy entitled “Run Like a Girl … for Office: How Higher Education Can Advance Gender Equity in Politics.”

It’s very obvious that far too few women hold political office in the US. Until my colleagues started working on this topic last year, I had been naively thinking that the problem would gradually fade as younger women capitalized on their strong gains in education; or that the barriers were things like campaign financing or family-leave policies that would yield to rather direct policy reforms. But Kei and Nancy have developed and assembled evidence that the problem is partly psychological–a persistent lack of confidence among younger women. And, like most psychological problems, this one has social roots: in this case, the disparate ways that educators treat girls and boys, even when they want to be equitable. The article ends with practical suggestions for colleges and universities, who form the target audience for Diversity & Democracy.