Women make up slightly more than half of Pennsylvania’s population and yet…the state has never had a female Governor or U.S. Senator! And while its General Assembly has more women legislators today than in the past, Pennsylvania ranks only 37 out of the 50 U.S. states with respect to women’s representation in national, state and local government.
How do we reach gender parity in politics? The problem goes beyond encouraging more women to run for office. In our current political system, women face structural and societal challenges that make it harder for them to win.
- Fundraising challenges women who don’t have the same level of access to corporate and financial networks as men;
- Women experience a higher bar for entry and have to do more to prove themselves as viable candidates than their male counterparts;
- Getting endorsements for women candidates from male-dominated party leadership remains a challenge;
- Family and childcare responsibilities fall more on women, making campaign travel more of a burden than it is for men;
- Women hold themselves to stricter standards and may write themselves off as good candidates before they even start.
At Represent PA’s October 22 breakfast briefing Behind the Campaign – Hurdles Women Face (and Overcome), we heard about what it really takes for women to run for office in Pennsylvania. Jo Piazza, bestselling author of “Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win,” shared the research that went into her novel about a woman who decides to run for office in PA and the double standards she faced – a book that the author wrote 10 years ago and assumed would be read as a satire once Hillary Clinton was in the White House!
Elizabeth Moro (candidate for HD-160) and Hadley Haas (candidate for HD-44), two former Represent PA endorsees (who are running again in 2026), talked about the personal and political obstacles they encountered while campaigning – everything from the difficulty of getting support from male-dominated labor unions and their own party leadership to the ongoing scrutiny placed on their appearance (their weight, their clothes, their hair) and their family dynamics (“who’s watching your kids?”).
Running for office as a woman is still harder than it should be — which is why Represent PA is so important. We’re already gearing up for 2026 by doing what we’ve done successfully in previous elections – identifying strong, progressive, pro-choice women candidates across the Commonwealth and making sure they get the early support they need to win. Join us and donate now.