Journal
AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW
Volume 116, Issue 2, Pages 484-501Publisher
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1017/S0003055421001027
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Funding
- Union College Faculty Research Fund
- Newcomb Institute at Tulane University
- Greenberg Fund
- Norman Fund at Brandeis University
- College of Wooster's Henry Luce III Fund for Distinguished Scholarship
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This article examines how children perceive gender in politics and how these perceptions influence sex differences in political interest and ambition. The findings suggest that as children grow older, girls increasingly see political leadership as a man's world, which results in lower levels of interest and ambition in politics for girls.
This article develops and tests a new theoretical framework, gendered political socialization, which offers important insights into how children perceive gender in politics and the consequences of these perceptions on sex differences in political interest and ambition. Based on data from 1,604 children who live in four different regions across the United States, we find that children not only perceive politics to be a male-dominated space, but with age, girls increasingly see political leadership as a man's world. Simultaneously, as children grow older, they internalize gendered expectations, which direct their interests toward professions that embody the gendered traits that fit with their own sex. One result of this mismatch between women and politics is that girls express lower levels of interest and ambition in politics than do boys.
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