Leadership Gender Gap by Justine Keller

While 92% of girls believe anyone can acquire the skills of leadership, only 21% believe they currently have most of the key qualities required to be a good leader (Schoenberg, Salmond, Fleshman, 2008). Political leadership determines the public policy of a country. Diverse political leadership ensures accurate representation of the population. In the United States, a gender gap exists in political leadership. Although women gained the right to vote 97 “year”s ago, in federal and state politics women hold fewer than 20% of seats in congress (Pew Research Center, 2015). Girls and women are often not viewed in society as strong leaders, not only by boys and men, but equally by women themselves. Society needs to become aware of these false perceptions of female leaders and their negative impact on political representation. This visualization contrasts the perspectives of women, men, boys, and girls to the number of men and women in various political entities. Comparing these four viewpoints allows for a more comprehensive look at how gender and age affect the relationship between the perceptions of female leaders and the reality of the number of female leaders in politics.