Despite the effort to achieve gender equality, women have yet to achieve parity in the political arena. A November 18, 2024, article from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace titled “The Election Brought Little Change for Women in Politics”1 yielded a few insights:

Men continue to dominate political life in the United States despite ongoing suggestions about how to increase the number of women in politics.2 Given the stagnation in the representation of women in politics, it is time for a new perspective. It is time to challenge the idea that masculinity is a right to leadership.

Political candidates and practitioners use tactics that reinforce the idea that being fit for political leadership means proving you are “man enough” for the job.3 Being “man enough” or masculine has become a “right to leadership”.

Psychologists Ella Lombard, Jovni Azpeitia, and Sapna Cheryn of the University of Washington explain this right to leadership exists because the culture of U.S. political leadership is rooted in prioritizing and centralizing notions of traditional masculinity.4 “Masculine defaults” are traits and characteristics associated with the male gender roles that are valued, rewarded, and regarded as standard. These researchers conclude that the gender gap in American political leadership is no accident. Behaviors and characteristics necessary for political success are rooted in a historical and durable tradition of privileging masculinity.

Masculinity derives its privilege from the coexistence of the system of patriarchy and the capitalist economic system. The Industrial Revolution of the late 19th century not only ushered in the separation of the sexes into different silos, it also ushered in capitalism as the dominant........

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