The Presidential Gender Penalty: From Victoria Woodhull to Kamala Harris

Investigates and quantifies the gender penalty in American politics in order to answer the question: what will it take to elect a woman president?

After 250 years of American democracy and 47 presidencies, the United States has yet to elect a woman to its highest office. While numerous factors influence presidential election outcomes including incumbency, economic conditions, crises, wars, scandals, and candidate personalities gender operates as a crucial variable. This book examines the historical and theoretical foundations underpinning why only men have held the presidency before moving into a campaign analysis of the only two women to make it to the general election Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris.