See it; be it? The use of role models in campaign trainings for women

Campaign training programs for women often spotlight women political leaders as role models for attendees, presumably with the intention that their achievements will help inspire other women to aspire to political leadership themselves. There is, however, contradictory evidence in the extant literature on role model effects, which exists primarily outside of political science. Although never applied directly to purposeful efforts to inspire women to run for office, findings in psychology point to ways role models can both enhance and depress ambition in areas other than electoral politics. In this study, I use data on participants in two candidate training programs to explore the effectiveness of this role models tactic. I find that the strength of participant identification with role models is positively associated with enhanced political ambition, but that specific role model characteristics (i.e., stereotypical, counter-stereotypical traits) may be more or less effective. These findings add greater nuance to scholarly discussions of political ambition and suggest that women’s political ambition may be better evaluated with a more refined approach.