-Source-NPR-
Women represent 20 percent of Congress members right now, and Republicans and Democrats differ sharply on why that's the case, not to mention how big of a problem that is.
That in and of itself is perhaps unsurprising, especially at a time when the parties are heavily divided on a wide variety of topics. But a new poll shows that men and women within each party — and especially among Republicans — differ heavily on several of these questions.
New data from the Pew Research Center shows that Republican and Republican-leaning women are roughly twice as likely (44 percent) as Republican men (24 percent) to say that there are too few women in office, and are also significantly more likely to say that it's easier for men to get into office.
They also differ on the reasons for that — 64 percent of GOP women say women have to do more to prove themselves, more than twice the rate of GOP men (28 percent). In addition, nearly half of GOP women say discrimination keeps women out of office — three times the rate of GOP men (14 percent).
On both of those questions, Republican men stand apart from the rest of the nation. Majorities of Republican women, Democratic women, and Democratic men say that women have to do more to prove themselves, compared to that 28 percent of GOP men. Likewise, while nearly half of GOP women and majorities of Democrats believe discrimination keeps women from office, compared to that 14 percent of GOP men.
GOP men are far less likely than others to say discrimination keeps women out of political office.
Pew Research Center
Republican women are also significantly more likely than men in their party to say that sexual harassment, differences in party support, and voters "not being ready" to elect women keep women out of office.
Gaps among Democrats, but fewer
Democrats also have some gender gaps, but they are neither as numerous nor as wide, for the most part, as on the GOP side. Among the largest: 42 percent of Democratic men, compared to 63 percent of Democratic women, say a key factor is that girls aren't encouraged as boys to aim for office.
And like Republican men, Democratic men are significantly less likely than their female counterparts to believe that Americans "aren't ready to elect a woman to higher office." Read more
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