Women in Political Leadership Roles

 http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3025456

This article i found is from a leadership conference in Canada (consisting of mostly women) discussing women that are and are not currently in political leadership positions. The speaker mentioned that politics would change for the better if more women were elected, but because these women don't know how it would be to balance work and family life, they choose not to run. Also, whenever women are active in the political realm, tend to be sexualized in the media. All of the speakers at this conference are encouraging women to fight for their rights and according to Maryam Monsef, until the women decide that every single woman is free, they will never break through that glass ceiling.

For these women to gain access to a political leadership role, there needs to be some sort of power that they individually posses. The book mentions several types of power such as Legitimate Power, Coercive Power, etc. I believe that in order for women to get into the political office, they'll need to have Expert Power and Information Power. Expert power is very important because it signifies the woman's ability to comprehend the political atmosphere and give her knowledgeable two cents in without going straight into an argument. Also, these women should have access to most, if not all legal information regarding politics for them to use to express new ideas and remind other politicians that something similar to their debate or idea has already occurred.

One thing that women can do, but again the media would end up taking it too far, is wow the crowd with their charisma. Good looking women in the media or politics somehow always get examined as being sexual and not taken seriously after the media takes control. But with their Expert Power, they can model President O'Bama and use their charisma rational persuasion for their advantage to logically convince others that what they propose is a win.

For each woman to stand up for their rights and decide to go the political route, there needs to be nonverbal, verbal, and behavior impression management in order to interact and gain respect from others. For those women that can achieve the above types of powers and tasks, do you think they should give up their family time to go into the political world knowing they can actually make a difference with other women, as well as people in the country in general? If not, why?

Thanks.

Jon Locke