Rafaela: Amanda Ripley, contributing writer to The Atlantic and senior fellow at the Emerson Collective, offered another reason in Politico, saying that women are better at politics because they sponsor more bills. Finally, when women are elected to office they serve as role models. One of the students. I interviewed while researching for this speech was inspired by Khem Khoeun. Her traumatic experiences made Cambodian Americans less likely to participate in politics, but Khem is determined to help Cambodians see there's little risk in taking an active role in their new home.

Now that we see why it is important to increase women's representation in public office, let's turn our attention to some of the reasons representation is lower. One cause is lack of encouragement. When interviewing our class, I discovered that women were rarely encouraged to run for any office by friends, family members, or teachers.

However, about half the men were encouraged to run for office while in school and after graduation. This is consistent with other research. Anyway, a second cause is lower rates of participation in experiences that build political skills like sports and stuff.

A third cause is lack of confidence despite their considerable abilities. Although Stephanie Johnson, associate professor of organizational leadership at the University of Colorado, noted in Why Don't Women Run for Office October 31st 2018 that women's college graduation rates exceed men's and that women's are more likely to study in fields that provide great skill sets for political offices and leadership such as law, business, and management. But women tend to rate themselves as less effective leaders.