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More than half of American men are uncomfortable with the idea of a female political leader

Heidi Lux
11.20.19
Official White House Photo by Sonya N. Hebert

This election cycle, six women threw their hat in the ring for president, but is their gender holding them back? Would Americans feel comfortable with a woman leading the free world? Based on the last election, the answer is a swift no. And a new study backs this up. The study found that only 49% of American men would feel very comfortable with a woman serving as the head of the government. By comparison, 59% of women said they would feel comfortable with a woman in charge.

The Reykjavik Index for Leadership, which measures attitude towards women leaders, evaluated the attitudes of those living in the G7 countries as well as Brazil, China, India, and Russia. 22,000 adults in those 11 countries were surveyed on their attitudes about female leadership in 22 different sectors, including government, fashion, technology, media, banking and finance, education, and childcare.

Only two countries, Canada and the U.K., had a majority of respondents say they would be more comfortable with a female head of state. Germany (which currently has a female Chancellor), Japan, and Russia were the countries least comfortable with a female head of state.

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Interestingly, both men and woman are more at ease with female leaders in the private sector. More American women and men were more comfortable with having a woman run a company. 56% of men and 66% of women said they were comfortable with a female CEO.

Americans also scored the highest out of all 11 countries surveyed when it comes to feeling comfortable about the idea of a female leader in media and entertainment, banking and finance, and natural sciences.

American respondents were the most comfortable with having a woman in charge when it comes to childcare, and the least comfortable with a female leader in gaming, automotive manufacturers, and defense and policing. It's slightly ironic, since politicians can behave like children.

All of the countries tended to feel comfortable with women leaders in more traditionally "feminine" realms, such as childcare, education, fashion, beauty, healthcare. Conversely, they felt more comfortable with male leaders in traditionally "masculine" fields, such as the auto industry, law enforcement, gaming, and aerospace and engineering. The bias that men and women are suited for better professions was upheld.

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The findings don't mean that it's impossible to have a female POTUS. "Women in all walks of life have a harder job on the journey to leadership than men," Michelle Harrison, who worked on the study, told the Huffington Post. "I don't think it's telling us anything specific about a particular woman. Leaders always break through."

All in all, the survey seems to reinforce the fact that women have a lot of work to do in order to be taken seriously in non-traditionally female fields. However, we have the power to change the statistics.

female president women president presidential race gender equality
Culture

The world is rallying around Tori, the Target employee Tweet-shamed by an irate cheapskate

via David Leavitt / Twitter

Anyone who has ever worked in retail knows that the worst thing about the job, right after the pay, are the unreasonable cheapskates who "want to talk to your manager" to get some money off an item.

They think that throwing a tantrum will save them a few bucks and don't care if they completely embarrass themselves in the process. Sometimes that involves belittling the poor employee who's just trying to get through their day with an ounce of dignity.

Twitter is rallying around a gal named Tori who works at a Target in Massachusetts after she was tweet-shamed by irate chapekate, journalist, and Twitter troll, David Leavitt.

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The cost of having a baby even with insurance equals average the monthly income of a woman

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Childbirth is the number one reason American women visit the hospital, and it ain't cheap. In fact, it's getting more and more expensive. A new study published in Health Affairs found that the cost of having a baby with employer-sponsored health insurance increased by almost 50% in the past seven years.

The study evaluated "trends in cost-sharing for maternity care for women with employer-based health insurance plans, before and after the Affordable Care Act," which was signed into law in 2010. The study looked at over 657,061 women enrolled in large employer-sponsored health insurance plans who delivered babies between 2008 and 2015, as these plans tend to cover more than plans purchased by small businesses or individuals.

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Scientists just found the crater of one of the biggest meteor crashes in Earth's history

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A meteorite crashed into Earth nearly 800,000 years ago. The meteor was 1.2 miles wide, and the impact was so big, it covered 10% of the planet with debris. However, scientists haven't been able to find the impact site for over a century. That is, until now. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal believes the crash site has been located.

Tektites, which are essentially rocks that have been liquefied from the heat of the impact and then cooled to form glass, help scientists spot the original impact site of a meteor. Upon impact, melted material is thrown into the atmosphere, then falls back to the ground. Even if the original crater has disappeared due to erosion or is hidden by a shift in tectonic plates, tektites give the spot away. Tektites between 750,000 to 35.5 million years old have been found in every continent except Antarctica.

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