This study confirms what many of us have known all our lives. Girls tend to grow up knowing that they cannot ever become president. And the study was conducted before the misogyny infested Democratic primaries. I'd like to see a study of the impact on girls of that particular historic primary mind-rape.
With the U.S. still ranking 69 in the world in percentage of women holding political positions, there's plenty of reason for pessimism.
This excerpt is from Science Daily:
During 2006, more than a year before Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama entered the presidential race, the researchers interviewed 205 children between the ages of five and 10 about their knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about the similarities among U.S. presidents. In three studies, children from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds answered questions about the absence of female, African-American and Hispanic presidents.
The researchers found most children are aware that women and minorities have been excluded from the U.S. presidency. Although most of the children believed people of all races and genders should be president, they offered surprising answers as to why only white males have held the nation's highest political office:
* One in four participants said it is illegal for women and minorities to hold the office of president;
* One in three children attributed the lack of female, African-American and Latino presidents to racial and gender bias on the part of voters; and
* While some children expressed the belief that prejudice shapes how adults vote, another third of the participants said members of the excluded groups lacked the skills to hold the position. . .
Children generally were optimistic about the possibility that they could become president, the researchers found. However, girls who attributed the lack of female presidents to discrimination were more likely to report they could not become president. In contrast, African-American children who identified discrimination as the reason for the lack of diversity showed an increased interest in becoming president.
"Perhaps the increased interest in becoming president is a result of the long and well-known history of African-Amercans' struggle to achieve equality in the United States," said Bigler. "Young girls are not as aware of the women's rights movements and are less likely to be knowledgeable about women's struggles to achieve political power."
Read more. .
Feminist Politics Gender News Discrimination Misogyny Women's History Hillary Clinton Sexism Obama Racism Feminist Trailblazers
