The limits of leaning in: ambition, recruitment, and candidate training in comparative perspective

The conventional wisdom suggests that women have less political ambition than men. The notion that women can solve the problem of their political underrepresentation by just “leaning in” also informs candidate training programs. This article links scholarship on women's candidate emergence to new research on women's candidate training programs, reaching three conclusions about the gender ambition gap. First, institutional, organizational, and structural barriers limit women's access to elected office more than their psychological predispositions. Second, most candidate training programs cannot address these systemic barriers. Third, the “lean in” frame reinforces notions that men are inherently capable, while women must overcome deficiencies in confidence or skills or both.