Stats of Interest

Using as a springboard the historic (though still grossly unrepresentative) numbers of women in the House (74 as of today) and Senate (17), Sara Reistad-Long of the WSJ takes a look at where women stand in business and in perception. Some interesting stats:

"The Pew Research Center, which examines attitudes toward public policy issues, showed in an August study that 69% of American men and 68% of American women think both genders make equally good leaders. Moreover, a survey conducted by the White House Project, a women's leadership advocacy group, found that when respondents were asked whether they'd be comfortable with a woman leader in 19 possible jobs, for no position did the respondents' comfort level dip below 70%.

Among the 27% of the Pew survey respondents who reported that women and men couldn't lead equally, only 6% ranked women the better choice. This, despite the fact that on the survey women outranked or tied men in four of the five qualities -- honesty, intelligence, compassion creativity and decisiveness -- respondents graded as essential for leadership. (Men trumped women only on decisiveness.)"