A new Harvard University report on sex bias in America, especially in politics, revealed a nugget that might explain some of the trouble Hillary Rodham Clinton is having with the female and youth vote: Many young girls and their moms prefer that males be in charge.
The Harvard Gazette report found that women continue to fight a glass ceiling, and are starting to drop out of the labor force. It cited an International Labor Association report that said while U.S. women are employed at high levels, “it has declined since 2000, from 70.7 percent down to 67.6 percent.”
Looking for a potential reason for any bias, it referred to a recent Harvard study on teens and their parents and found that girls and boys and moms have a bias against women in power and politics, especially white girls.
“What we found is that not only teen boys, but many teen girls prefer male leaders in powerful professions, such as politics. Further, when it comes to leadership in general, many white teen girls appear to have biases against other white teen girls and some mothers appear to have biases against teen girls as well,” said the report based on a survey of approximately 19,800 middle and high schools students.
The key findings from the executive summary:
— Girls expressed bias against girls in power. When asked who is more effective in specific professions, almost a quarter of teen girls—23%—preferred male over female political leaders while only 8% of girls preferred female political leaders, with 69% reporting no difference in preference.
— 40% of teen boys preferred male over female political leaders while only 4% preferred female political leaders with 56% expressing no preference.
— White girls appear to be biased against other white girls as student council leaders. The gap between white boys and white girls appears to be largely explained by the fact that white girls tended not to support giving power to white girls. White girls presented with boy-led councils expressed higher average support for the council than white girls presented with girl-led councils.
— Some mothers appear to be biased against girls as leaders. On average, mothers presented with councils led by boys expressed stronger support for the council than mothers presented with councils led by girls.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
