Senior Citizens Send Puzzling Signals in Poll on
Females' Ability to Lead the Nation
Seniors are least likely to say men have better
leadership skills than women, among least likely to say U.S. ready for
female leader
Percent saying a major
reason for not having a top female leader is that the country is
not ready.
Sept. 4, 2008 – With all the attention on women as
political leaders, the Pew Research Center has taken a look at how U.S.
adults perceive the leadership traits of women and their ability to
serve as political leaders. The general public finds women have
everything it takes and more of it than men, but are still hesitant to
say they are better leaders than men. Senior citizens, as usual, took a slightly
different slant than younger people.
Americans 65 and older agree that
women are better than men on the key leadership traits of honesty and
intelligence. They were, in fact, the least likely age group to choose
men on these two issues.
But, they think men are more decisive and work
harder. Yet, they gave men less of an edge than younger people on being
decisive.
On the key traits of honesty, intelligence and
decisiveness, seniors gave women a smaller edge over men than the
younger age groups.
So, it was surprising to find senior citizens
joining the 18-to-29 age group to lead others in saying Americans are
not ready for females in the top political office.
Senior citizens were right on the average with all
adults who said men make the best leaders – 21%. But, they were the
least likely to say men had better leadership skills than women – just
6%.
The seniors were just as confusing about women.
They were also the least likely to say women had the best leadership
skills – 17%.
So, what is this all about. Well, if they did not
choose “men” or “women,” that means they considered them equal are
refused to give an answer.
Who Makes the Best Political
Leader?
Question: Which one of the following statements comes closest to
your opinion about men and women as political leaders: 1) Men
generally make better political leaders than women; 2) Women
generally make better political leaders than men, 3) In general,
women and men make equally good political leaders.
Age Group
Men
Women
Both Equal
DK – No Answer
18-29
19
4
73
4
30-49
22
5
69
4
50-64
22
8
66
3
65+
21
8
65
6
Men
21
4
69
6
Women
20
8
68
3
All Adults
21
6
69
4
For the question about which gender has the
strongest leadership skills, the percent that did not make a choice were
68% of those 18-29, 65% of those 30-49, 69% of those 50-64 and a
whooping 77% of those over 64. That appears to be a strong statement
that most seniors consider the genders pretty well equal when it comes
to leadership ability.
Doing the same analysis on the question of which
sex makes the best political leader finds the same evidence is there but
it is not as convincing. The non-choosers were 77% (18-29), 73% (30-49),
70% (50-64) and 71% (65+). It should be noted, however, that in most
polling senior citizens are more likely to say they don't have an
answer. In the chart above it shows only 65% of seniors considered the
sexes equal but 6% had no answer to the question. So, the seniors were
the least likely to consider them equal on this question.
But, on the bottom line question, senior citizens
were among the most likely to say American is not ready for a female
leader.
The General Results
The analysis of the nationwide poll by Pew
Research, which was released August 25, before Sen. John McCain selected a female
running mate, concludes that Americans believe women have the right
stuff to be political leaders. When it comes to honesty, intelligence
and a handful of other character traits they value highly in leaders,
the public rates women superior to men.
Age Group
Men
Best Political Leaders? %
Men Better on Leadership Traits? %
Women Best Political Leaders? %
Women Better on Leadership Traits? %
18-29
19
12
4
20
30-49
22
9
5
26
50-64
22
9
8
22
65+
21
6
8
17
Men
21
14
4
16
Women
20
5
8
28
All Adults
21
9
6
22
Nevertheless, a mere 6% of respondents in this
survey of 2,250 adults say that, overall, women make better political
leaders than men. About one-in-five (21%) say men make the better
leaders, while the vast majority -- 69% -- say men and women make
equally good leaders.
The paradox embedded in these survey findings is
part of a wider paradox in modern society on the subject of gender and
leadership. In an era when women have made sweeping strides in
educational attainment and workforce participation, relatively few have
made the journey all the way to the highest levels of political or
corporate leadership.
Top
Leadership Traits: Women Have More of the Right Stuff
Leadership
Trait
% Saying
“Absolutely Essential”
%Saying “More
True of Women:
%Saying “More
True of Men”
Advantage Men
or Women
Honest
52
50
20
Women +30
Intelligent
46
38
14
Women +24
Hardworking
45
28
28
No advantage
Decisive
39
33
44
Men +11
Ambitious
30
34
34
No advantage
Compassionate
28
80
5
Women +75
Outgoing
22
47
28
Women +19
Creative
20
62
11
Women +51
Note: Results shown above are based on two questions. The
first asked respondents how important the trait was in a
political leader, and the percentage that said the trait was
“absolutely essential” is shown in the first column. The second
and third columns report the results of the question that asked
if the specific characteristic was more true of men or women.
Why not? In the Pew Research Center Social and
Demographic Trends survey, the public cites gender discrimination,
resistance to change, and a self-serving "old boys club" as reasons for
the relative scarcity of women at the top. In somewhat smaller numbers,
respondents also say that women's family responsibilities and their
shortage of experience hold them back from the upper ranks of politics
and business.
What the public does not say is that women
inherently lack what it takes to be leaders. To the contrary, on seven
of eight leadership traits measured in this survey, the public rates
women either better than or equal to men.
For example, half of all adults say women are more
honest than men, while just one-in-five say men are more honest (the
rest say they don't know or volunteer the opinion that there's no
difference between the sexes on this trait). And honesty, according to
respondents, is the most important to leadership of any of the traits
measured in the survey.
The next most important leadership trait, in the
public's view, is intelligence. Here again, women outperform men: 38% of
respondents say women are smarter than men, while just 14% say men are
smarter, and the remainder say there's no difference between the sexes.
Men and women tie on two of the next three traits
on the public's ranking of leadership qualities measured in this survey
-- hard work and ambition. Men prevail over women on decisiveness (their
lone "victory" in the battery of eight traits), with 44% of respondents
saying that men are more decisive and 33% saying women are.
Finally, women have big leads over men on the last
three traits on the public's rankings of the eight items measured: being
compassionate (80% say women; 5% say men); being outgoing (47% say
women; 28% say men) and being creative (62% say women; 11% say men).
For anyone keeping score, that's women over men by
five to one, with two ties, on eight traits, each of which at least
two-thirds of the public says is very important or absolutely essential
to leadership. Notably, nearly all of these gender evaluations are
shared by men as well as women, though the margins are more heavily
pro-woman among female respondents than among male respondents.
The survey also asked respondents to assess whether
men or women in public office are better at handling a range of policy
matters and job performance challenges. On the policy front, women are
widely judged to be better than men at dealing with social issues such
as health care and education, while men have a big edge over women in
the public's perception of the way they deal with crime, public safety,
defense and national security.
As for job performance skills, women get higher
marks than men in all of the measures tested: standing up for one's
principles in the face of political pressure; being able to work out
compromises; keeping government honest; and representing the interests
of "people like you."
Overall, however, women emerge from this survey a
bit like a sports team that racks up better statistics but still loses
the game -- witness the tiny 6% sliver of the public that says women
generally make better political leaders than men.
To be sure, the fact that such a large majority of
respondents (69%) say that women and men make equally good political
leaders is itself a measure of the profound changes in women's role in
society that have taken place over the past several decades.
Women make up 57% of all college students, about
half of all law and medical school students, and more than four- in-ten
students who earn masters degrees in business. They make up 46% of the
total private sector workforce and 38% of all managers.
Changes Over Time in Assessment of
Obstacles
Virginia Slims surveys conducted in 1999
and 1989 also asked respondents why there were fewer female
political leaders than male political leaders. In 1999, there
was no gender gap in the share of respondents saying that a
major reason was that many voters are not ready to elect women.
Among men, 55% said so and among women, 56% did. Men are now
less likely to say voters are not ready. But women’s responses
have not changed.
Men’s likelihood to cite discrimination
as a major reason has changed little from past surveys, but
women are more likely now to call it a major reason.
However, it's still lonely for women at the very
highest rungs of the corporate and political ladder. Women are just 2%
of the CEOs of the nation's Fortune 500 companies. In the political
realm, they make up just 17% of all members of the U.S. House of
Representatives; 16% of all U.S. senators; 16% of all governors; and 24%
of all state legislators. Internationally, the U.S.ranks in the middle
range -- 85th in the world -- in its share of women in the lower house
of its national legislative body.
Asked what accounts for this slow movement toward
gender parity in top political positions, about half (51%) of all survey
respondents say a major reason is that Americans simply aren't ready to
elect a woman to high office; more than four-in-ten (43%) say a major
reason is that women who are active in politics are held back by men,
and 38% say a major reason is that women are discriminated against in
all realms of society, and politics is no exception.
These are the three
most prevalent choices among seven possible explanations presented in
the survey.
Next in the pecking order of explanations is the
time pressure that comes with trying to balance work and family; 27% of
the public cites this as a major reason there aren't more women leaders
in politics. Some 26% say that a big reason is that women don't have the
experience required for higher office. The least common explanations -
chosen as a major reason by just 16% and 14% of respondents,
respectively - are that women don't make as good leaders as men and that
women aren't tough enough for politics.
Other key findings from the survey:
Negative Gender Stereotypes: In addition to
asking about the eight leadership traits, the survey asked about four
traits that are often viewed in a negative light. By a lopsided margin,
respondents say that women (85%), not men (5%), are the more
emotional sex, and by a two-to-one margin they say women (52%)
rather than men (26%) are more manipulative. On the other side of
the ledger, some 70% of respondents say men are the more arrogant
sex. And 46% of respondents say men are the more stubborn gender,
compared with 32% who say that about women.
Gender Solidarity: In this survey, women see
themselves in a more favorable light than men see women. Likewise, men
see themselves in a better light than women see men. However, for men,
gender solidarity goes only so far. Overall, they give their gender the
better ratings on just five of the 12 traits (decisiveness; hard work;
ambition; not being emotional; not being manipulative) and they give
themselves inferior ratings on seven (honesty; intelligence; compassion;
creativity; being outgoing; being stubborn; being arrogant). By
contrast, while women say they are more emotional and more manipulative
than men, they give themselves higher marks than men on the 10 other
traits measured.
Gender and Race: Of all demographic groups,
black women are distinctive in the degree to which they say women are
superior to men in their evaluations of character traits. Nearly
eight-in-ten (78%) black women (compared with 51% of white women and 50%
of all adults) say women are more honest than men. About two-thirds
(65%) of black women (compared with 37% of white women and 38% of all
adults) say women are smarter than men. And about half (49%) of black
women (compared with 33% of white women and 28% of all adults) say women
are more hardworking than men.
Twice as Hard; Half as Far: The feminist
rallying cry that women have to work twice as hard to get half as far as
men in their careers finds some statistical support from this survey, as
least with regard to leadership evaluations. Survey respondents who rate
men better than women on key character traits have a sharply increased
likelihood of saying that men make better political leaders than women.
But respondents who rate women better than men on these same traits have
only a slightly increased likelihood of saying women make better leaders
than men.
It's a Man's World: By a ratio of nearly
two-to-one, Americans say that, all things considered, men rather than
women have a better life in this country. Women believe this in greater
numbers than men do, and younger and middle-aged adults believe it in
greater numbers than older adults do. The view that men have the better
life than women is not as strong now as it was 15 years ago, when the
public said by a ratio of about three-to-one that men had the better
life. However, still farther back in time, attitudes were much
different. In 1972, during the early days of the modern gender
revolution, slightly more adults said women had the better life than
said that about men.
Generational Differences Among Women: Older
women are more inclined than younger women to see the need for more
social change to ensure that women have equal rights; seven-in-ten women
ages 50 and over say more change is needed, a view shared by just 53% of
women ages 18-29. At the same time, younger and middle-aged women are
more inclined than older women to say that men rather than women have
the better life in this country.
Discrimination and Equal Rights: A majority
of adults (57%) say the nation needs to continue to make changes to give
women equal rights with men. A similar majority (54%) says
discrimination against women is either a serious or somewhat serious
problem in society. However, a bigger majority (63%) says that
discrimination against blacks is a serious or somewhat serious problem.
Admiration for Hillary Clinton: The survey
asked no questions about Sen. Hillary Clinton or the 2008 presidential
campaign. However, in answer to an open-ended question, Clinton and
Sen.Barack Obama were each named by 13% of respondents as the political
figure in the U.S. that they admire most. President Bush was the third
most frequently mentioned figure, named by 7% of respondents. Women are
more than twice as likely as men to name Clinton as the figure they
admire most; and Hispanics are much more likely than blacks and somewhat
more likely than whites to name her as the figure they admire most.
What the public does not say is that women
inherently lack what it takes to be leaders. To the contrary, on seven
of eight leadership traits measured in this survey, the public rates
women either better than or equal to men.
For anyone keeping score, that's women over men by
five to one, with two ties, on eight traits, each of which at least
two-thirds of the public says is very important or absolutely essential
to leadership. Notably, nearly all of these gender evaluations are
shared by men as well as women, though the margins are more heavily
pro-woman among female respondents than among male respondents.
Gender Solidarity: In this survey, women see
themselves in a more favorable light than men see women. Likewise, men
see themselves in a better light than women see men. However, for men,
gender solidarity goes only so far. Overall, they give their gender the
better ratings on just five of the 12 traits (decisiveness; hard work;
ambition; not being emotional; not being manipulative) and they give
themselves inferior ratings on seven (honesty; intelligence; compassion;
creativity; being outgoing; being stubborn; being arrogant). By
contrast, while women say they are more emotional and more manipulative
than men, they give themselves higher marks than men on the 10 other
traits measured.