Women Candidates Face More Obstacles — and the Pandemic Has Made It Worse

Though the news cycle has been so relentless it can seem hard to keep track, this has been a historic period for women’s political leadership. Since Trump’s election, a surge of women have been running for and winning elected office: In the 2018 midterm elections, the United States achieved milestones for female and other candidates who have had little or no representation — for example, electing the most women (112) and the first Muslim and Native American women ever elected to Congress. Earlier this year, a record six women ran for president in the primaries, and, of course, Senator Kamala Harris becoming the first Black and South Asian woman to be a major party vice presidential candidate was another historic breakthrough.

Even as we celebrate this progress, we must remember that women are still far from parity and vastly underrepresented in this country. The United States is one of very few nations to have not yet elected a female head of state, there are only nine women out of 50 governors, and women currently make up only 23.7% of the U.S. Congress — and these numbers fall even lower when it comes to women of color. Additionally, women candidates continue to face many more structural and cultural obstacles than men, including sexism and cultural bias against female leaders, the overwhelming advantages that incumbents have, unequal and negative media coverage, fundraising challenges, and unequal family and household responsibilities. And in this election cycle, candidates have faced additional hurdles campaigning during a pandemic.

Running for Office During a Pandemic

At a time when the political stakes are higher than ever, the coronavirus has presented a myriad of new obstacles for female candidates. Patti Russo, executive director of The Campaign School at Yale, a nonpartisan political campaign training program for women, which has had to convert its in-person trainings to a series of dynamic online events, has heard about these issues firsthand from the candidates: “Women running during the pandemic have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Many have lost their child care, literally overnight. Some have been furloughed or have lost their jobs. Many find themselves running for office during a time when they cannot take advantage of all of the traditional outreach candidates have at their disposal during a normal campaign cycle.”

For candidates and the organizations that support them, the transition to virtual platforms had the unexpected benefit of creating a bigger reach. “We have successfully led two of our one-day trainings during COVID,” says Russo. “As a result, attendees from as far away as Hawaii, Ethiopia, and Angola have been able to take advantage of our training because it was held virtually.”

In addition to virtual campaign trainings, Russo says that, throughout the pandemic, the Campaign School has held regular check-in Zoom calls for their alumnae “to make sure they were able to effectively deal with the challenges they were facing on the campaign trail, all the while juggling personal struggles simultaneously.”

Glynda Carr, president and CEO of Higher Heights, a national organization building the political power of Black women, says the way women’s campaigns have pivoted amid the pandemic “has been amazing for candidates, and I think it will forever change how people campaign.” She goes on to say, “You can have back-to-back fundraisers because candidates don’t have to travel, which means they could have three or four fundraisers a night. They also have been able to allow fundraisers to have more grassroots contributions for people attending because you don’t have a space [or] budget constraint. So you can put on an event that would have been a New York event that people from across the country can see, and it’s still a sense of community. There are still challenges, but many of these candidates have really met the moment by meeting people where they are online.”

Desiree Tims is running for Congress in Ohio’s 10th district, and if elected, she would be the first woman and the first African American to hold that seat. “I’m a people person, so not being able to shake hands or talk with my neighbors face to face is hard,” she says. “However, like everyone else, we’ve rolled with the punches and adapted to running a virtual campaign. It means we’re putting more time into talking to folks on social media, calling voters at home, and making sure they see our message on TV.” Connecting with voters is doubly important for Tims, since she is running as a Democrat in a heavily Republican district, and her opponent, as an incumbent, is already well known by constituents.

Additional Obstacles Faced by Women Candidates of Color

Although their numbers are growing, women of color continue to experience additional obstacles amplified by racism and other systemic issues. Georgia State Senator Nikema Williams, who is running for the seat of her friend and mentor the late U.S. Congressman John Lewis, says,“Running for office, especially for Black women, is a tough task in and of itself.” As an example, she says, “Campaigns are expensive, and as a Black woman I understand we face more challenges in our journey to public office than other candidates — one of these challenges is raising money.”

Williams, who is mother to a young son, adds, “Additionally, being a working mom during a pandemic while actively campaigning makes this task even harder.” She says her “people-powered campaign” has been dependent on volunteers and has been “laser focused” on ensuring her volunteers’ and staff’s safety, and that they “have used a lot of creativity and virtual skills to ensure we are reaching voters online.”

In terms of fundraising challenges, Carr explains, “Black women continue to have to push through and jump over institutional obstacles and man-made barriers. And that includes raising money and raising money early.” In addition, questions of “electability” and “viability” are often raised around the candidacies of Black women. “There is no definition of what viability actually is, yet there is an opportunity for the narrative to shape who's electable and viable,” says Carr. “And when you then have grasstops donors, institutional partners, party leaders, as well as the media discussing that someone is not electable, that actually slows down her ability to raise funds early.” Indeed, recent data reported by The Lily shows that “the 113 active Black women candidates running on all tickets raised nearly $81 million in the first three quarters compared to the nearly $811 million pulled in by their 379 active White women counterparts across party lines.”

And while there has always been a problem of cultural biases against women in leadership positions and unequal and sexist media coverage of women politicians and candidates, the negative portrayal is even more pronounced for Black women. Carr says, “This cycle we’ve seen the continued negative framing of women political leaders and Black women running for office. What we prominently saw in the cycle is the use of saying that Stacey Abrams and Kamala Harris are ‘ambitious’— a trait that historically is not a negative. We want our leaders to have ambition. It is actually what drives them to be great leaders. And there still continue to be discussions and questions around ‘likability,’ like we saw in 2016 with Hillary Clinton. And the one step further for Black women is not just the likability but also that our passion and compassion is perceived as angry and aggressive.”

Challenges for Republican Women Candidates

One hurdle for Republican women, whose representation is even lower than that of Democratic women, is lack of support from their own party. And with an already stressed election cycle, they fear having even less attention and fewer resources devoted to their campaigns. Julie Conway, executive director of Value In Electing Women Political Action Committee (VIEW PAC), a political action committee for Republican women candidates, explains, “For decades the Republican party had given lip service to the concept of supporting women running for office. Unfortunately, their actions weren’t reflective of this. The party had used the ‘check the box’ approach by recruiting women to run in districts that are very difficult to win with little or no support from the party.”

Conway notes that the pandemic has made it “extremely difficult for women who are not experienced fundraisers, because most fundraising since March has had to be done by phone, not events. So it’s a different ask. Women prefer to let their credentials and abilities ‘close the deal,’ and that’s easier and more effective at an event where a speech is given and there’s a Q&A. Fundraising over the phone is more sterile and less personal. No events also really hurts a candidate that is not widely known across her district.”

Call to Action

Since female candidates face so many existing challenges, as well as new obstacles due to the pandemic, those who want to see more equity in politics need to be even more proactive — both in mobilizing voter turnout and in other forms of support up and down the ticket — to make sure the small gains of recent years are not lost. As we head toward this historic election and beyond, it is the responsibility of all of us to help create gender and racial equity in politics — not just for the sake of fairness and equality but also for the sake of diversity and a reflective democracy, so that we are utilizing all the talents, skills, and perspectives women offer to address the many serious problems the country faces. As Glynda Carr points out: “Decision-making tables, from corporate boardrooms to city halls to Congress, make better decisions when they are diverse.”