It Takes More Than a Candidate remains the only systematic account of the gender gap in political ambition. Based on national surveys of more than 10,000 potential candidates in 2001, 2011, and 2021, the book shows that women, even in the highest tiers of professional accomplishment, are substantially less likely than men to demonstrate ambition to seek elective office. The gender gap in persists across generations and over time, despite society's changing attitudes toward women in politics. Women remain less likely to be recruited to run for office, less likely to think they are qualified to run, and less likely to express a willingness to run for office in the future. In the twenty years since It Takes a Candidate was first published, the book remains timely and eye-opening, highlighting the challenges women face navigating the candidate emergence process and providing insight into the persistent gender gap in political ambition.

‘This latest work by Lawless and Fox is an all-to-rare thing in social sciences - authors returning again and again to important questions and examining those questions over time, in different contexts, and during different political periods. The three waves of the Citizen Political Ambition Study examine a fundamental political question - how can women enter politics at higher levels when our gendered society remains a drag on ambition? Their identification of the forces still facing women provides both reasons to be pessimistic and a clear sense of the roots of the problem.’

Kathy Dolan - distinguished professor at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and author of When Does Gender Matter?

‘The last 20 years of American politics have been marked by head-spinning developments and dramatic upheaval, leaving many of us with the feeling that everything has changed. But some things haven't. In the third edition of their pathbreaking work, Jennifer L. Lawless and Richard L. Fox reveal that the gender gap in political ambition remains surprisingly stubborn. Despite significant social and political change, women are still much less likely to run for office than men - just as was true two decades ago. Fox and Lawless’ original research created an agenda for understanding women’s underrepresentation in American politics, and this new book underscores how their insights remain as vital today as ever.’

Danny Hayes - George Washington University, and co-author of Women on the Run: Gender, Media, and Political Campaigns in a Polarized Era