What Do Women Want in a Political Career?

On New Year’s Day, perhaps as a way to celebrate, the National Women’s Political Caucus endorsed Hillary Clinton for President. The NWPC, based in Washington, D.C., is a grassroots organization aiming to increase the presence of women in politics—well under one quarter of our nation’s politicians are women. Paula Willmarth, the NWPC’s Vice President of Political Planning, says Clinton’s nomination “would make history, inspiring more women to enter politics.”

Willmarth may be on to something: The ability of role models to inspire future generations has been studied for some time. In a 2006 , for instance, researchers found that “over time, the more that women politicians are made visible by confirmed the existence of a “role-model effect resulting from the election of Speaker Pelosi and the presidential candidacy of Hillary Clinton, but the effects,” the researchers write, “are largely concentrated among young women who are Democratic and liberal.” They found “little evidence” that Sarah Palin’s vice-presidential run had any positive political impact on young women.