the 1950s, women were expected to find fulfillment in domestic roles. Many career women in the 1990s are still relegated to traditionally female-dominated professions such as teaching or nursing, and even these professions are expected to be subordinated to child-rearing during the children's younger years. Certain politically active women, such as former U.S. House of Representative Barbara Jordan, have successfully violated this stereotype: "in living their lives they helped to change the gender role expectations established by the social clocks" (20). Nevertheless, women's political socialization continues to be different from that of men, which results in lower rates of political participation for women.
A key discussion in Women and Political Participation is the barriers to women's involvement in national politics. Although women are well-represented at the local, and increasingly the state level, their presence is not common at the national level. The barriers to such participation are both attitudinal and situational. One problem is gendered notions of leadership. Politics is defined in masculine terms: "capturing resources and redistributing them from losers to winners" (99). In contrast, women adhere to a more participatory view of politics, seeking compromise and consensual solutions as opposed to a quest for power. Also, women tend to participate in a wider range of civic organizations than men, but this participation is generally marginalized, leading to negative attitudes by the general public regarding women's presence at the national level. In addition, politics is still viewed as a "man's game," and many men are guilty of acting in the role of "political gatekeepers," using underhanded tactics and perpetuating myths to keep women out of national politics.
Environmental and structural barriers likewise play a role in the dearth of women political participants at the national level. These barriers are...