When asked why women are not achieving parity in high elected office — women make up just 17% of all members of the U.S. House of Representatives; 16% of all U.S. senators; 16% of all governors — the most cited major reason is that American are just not ready (51%). More than four-in-ten (43%) say a major reason is that women in politics are held back by men, while 38% say women are discriminated against in all realms of society, and politics is no exception. The two least cited major reasons women aren’t in high elected office were that women don’t make as good of leaders as men and that women aren’t tough enough for politics. Read More

Russell Heimlich  is a former web developer at Pew Research Center.