Danielle Thomsen

For higher levels of office such as U.S. Congress, gender disparities can also be explained by the underrepresentation of women in professions that commonly lead to political careers, such as law, business, education and political activism, according to Danielle Thomsen, associate professor of political science at the University of California, Irvine. “Rates of entry might be similar between men and women, but still result in very different numbers of men and women [candidates],” Thomsen says.

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