Jennifer Lawless discusses “Why Women Don’t Run for Office and What Happens When They Do” at 3:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 1, in the Cone University Center, Room 112. This free event is open to all students and will be followed by an informal meet-and-greet.
Lawless is a professor of government at American University, where she is also the director of the Women and Politics Institute. She received a Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University in 2003 and completed a bachelor’s degree from Union College in 1997.
As a researcher, Lawless focuses on representation, political ambition, and gender in the electoral process, and she has received support for her research from the National Science Foundation.
She is the author of numerous works, including “Running from Office: Why Young Americans Are Turned Off to Politics” and “It Still Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don’t Run for Office.”
In addition, she has published in various academic journals, including the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Perspectives on Politics, Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, Legislative Studies Quarterly and Politics and Gender
She is a nationally recognized speaker on electoral politics and has commented for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and USA Today and appeared on the CBS Evening News and ABC World News Tonight.
In 2006, she sought the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives in Rhode Island’s second congressional district.
The Chancellor’s Diversity Challenge Fund, the Marshall Rauch Endowment and the Department of Political Science and Public Administration provided support for this presentation.