VISITING PROFESSOR AT OU TO DISCUSS

WOMEN RUNNING FOR POLITICAL OFFICE

NORMAN – Jennifer Lawless, professor of political science and public policy at Brown University, will visit the University of Oklahoma Tuesday, Oct. 17, as a guest lecturer for the Presidential Dream Course on gender, power and leadership taught by Cindy Simon Rosenthal and Hannah Brenner.

Launched in 2004, the university’s Presidential Dream Course program, sponsored by the Office of the President, allows instructors to bring renowned speakers to campus in an effort to enrich the academic environment for students and the general public.

 The lecture, “Women in Politics: A View From the Campaign Trail,” is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Meacham Auditorium, Oklahoma Memorial Union, 900 Asp Ave. A dessert reception will follow. Both events are free and open to the public.

While many political science scholars focus on candidates and the electoral process, Lawless pinpoints an often overlooked aspect, candidate emergence, and recognizes that gender has an affect on the decision to run for office. 

Lawless received her master of arts and doctoral degrees from Stanford University. A nationally recognized expert on women's involvement in politics, she is co-author, with Richard L. Fox, of It Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office (Cambridge University Press, 2005). Lawless and Fox find that a gender gap in political ambition definitely exists: women are significantly less likely to express ambition to run for elective office even when they are as qualified as men.

She also has published articles in the American Journal of Political Science, Political Research Quarterly, Legislative Studies Quarterly, and Women and Politics and has issued a policy report on the barriers that often preclude Americans from running for office. 

Lawless has run for public office, recently campaigning for a seat in the House of Representatives. She challenged the incumbent in a primary contest in Rhode Island’s second congressional district. Her firsthand experience, along with research on women running for office, will make Lawless’ presentation at OU both interesting and informative.     

For more information about Lawless’ visit or accommodations on the basis of disability, please call (405) 325-6372.