Abstract
Women face a number of barriers to accessing and engaging in the political sphere. This research project addresses the current barriers for women in running for and holding political office from the perspective of thirty-one young women, ages 18 to 30 years old, at California State University, Sacramento who are members of the student organization Social Work Student Association (SWSA). This research project was studied by conducting exploratory research using a mixed methods approach to examine the relationship between the perceived barriers and the effort women are willing to exert to ameliorate these barriers. This study revealed some key issues that require action on the part of politicians as well as the social work profession. The findings demonstrate that the majority of participants have not considered running for a political office (64.5 %). The findings also indicate that there is a moderate correlation between receiving encouragement to run and consideration of running for political office (r = 0.334). Furthermore, it was noted that no participants received the suggestion to run from party officials, elected officials, non-elected political activists, or any other political actors. Nevertheless, all participants identified that it is important for women to be involved in politics (100%). However, the two most recurrent barriers identified by participants were lack of knowledge about the political process (n=9) and having a different career trajectory (n=7). Although this research does not allow for a definitive, conclusive inference, it builds a knowledge base for potential solutions to advance gender parity in politics.