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GRAVITAS MAGAZINE GravitasMag.com | 35 trail—firmly cementing a barefaced double standard. Not to mention the constant aention paid to Clinton's physical appearance and her penchant for pantsuits. is chauvinism has led many female candidates to practice the politics of physical negation, in other words, an effort to find a look that is put-together but never extraordinar y, so as to avoid unwanted aention to appearance. A recent sur vey sponsored by Name It. Change It., a non-partisan project from the Women's Media Center, and She Should Run showed that no maer what is said about a female political candidate's appearance, it has a negative impact on what potential voters think of her. It's difficult to navigate within a system that harshly critiques a woman's appearance while simultaneously disregarding her for being "too aractive to be taken seriously." FUNDING Family demands are oen cited as a common reason why women opt out of the political foray; however, according to a new report focused on women in federal races released by Political Parity, women claim that fundraising requirements and party support are actually the largest barriers to running for national office. Two-thirds of the women in the study said they find it difficult to raise the money needed to run effectively. Concerns weren't necessarily about ask ing for money but instead, not being plugged into the right networks to make them successful when they tr y to raise funds. Top 10 U.S. Women in Politics Considering that women still face a pay gap in nearly ever y occupation with just 79 cents on the dollar to their male counterparts, the funding predicament is not entirely surprising. Furthermore, though women now hold almost 52 percent of all professional-level jobs, women lag substantially behind men in leadership positions with only 14.6 percent of executive officers being female. A n even smaller portion of Fortune 500 CEOS are women, a measly 4.6 percent. Boom line, women still lack access to the highest levels of wealth and power, both crucial assets for a successful campaign. Modifications must be made to address the deterrents to women holding office. In Sweden, their ministr y is 52 percent women and their parliament is 43 percent female. To accomplish this balance, Sweden requires "positive quotas" where half their candidates are women. ey also have comprehensive childcare policies to help legislators manage their professional and family life. Other nations leading the way in female representation are Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany and Rwanda. (Yes! Rwanda!) Most recently, newly-elected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made headlines when he announced that half of his Cabinet ministers are women. His explanation was simple: "It's 2015." Globally, research shows that even culturally divided and ethnically diverse nations end up with a beer economic performance when they elect more women to national leadership offices. Rwanda leads the world in female representation with more female MPs (Members of Parliament) than males at 64 percent. While their Clinton, 2016 Presidential Candidate, Former U.S. Secretary of State, Democrat Mary Jo White, Chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Independent Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, California, Democrat Kelly Ayotte, U.S. Senator, New Hampshire, Republican Kamala Harris, California Attorney General, Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, U.S. Senator, New York Nikki Haley, Governor of South Carolina, Republican Kate Brown, Governor of Oregon, Democrat Tammy Baldwin, U.S. Senator, Wisconsin, Democrat, Carolyn Maloney, U.S. Representative, New York, Democrat, Continued on page 36

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