Trust is key, it's more than just a familiar saying. This is an accurate description of the skills required for many things in life, including success in politics. This is becoming a major problem, however, as women have much lower confidence levels than their male counterparts (Sutton). This prevents women from having the ambition to enter politics. Women lack the confidence to succeed in politics due to sexism and traditional family roles, which significantly change the way public policies are initiated, processed and understood. In order to solve this problem, women must be given support, and gender roles and stereotypes of men and women must be changed. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Women don't enter politics because they believe they don't have what it takes. A study by Jennifer Lawless and Richard Fox found that “women are half as likely as men to believe they would achieve electoral success if they ran for office” (Lawless and Fox 116-117). The same study showed that when asked about the potential skills required to succeed in politics, “women are less likely than men to perceive themselves as possessing these skills” (Lawless and Fox 117). These perceptions lead to lower levels of political ambition. A woman who believes she is not qualified to run for office “is about half as likely as a man in a similar situation to express political ambitions (Lawless and Fox 121). This trend also appears in other areas. Numerous studies have shown that “men are indeed more confident than women (Sutton). This “confidence deficit” leaves men outperforming women in a multitude of areas. The first step to closing this gap is to determine where it comes from. The “trust gap” is influenced by several factors. The first is directly linked to this policy gap. Women have less self-confidence due to the sexism still present in this area. Women always face harsh criticism when running for office. The media calls them “too ambitious,” “too tough,” “too soft,” and a plethora of other harsh criticisms (Kornblut 5-50). When Sarah Palin ran for office, she was presented as "the idiot beauty queen" and also very blatantly as a sex object (Kornblut 103,114). Unfortunately, these opinions are not only found in the media. “25% of the American population still says that men are emotionally better suited to politics” (Paxton, Kunovich and Huges 271). With this sexism still prevalent in society, it is difficult for women to maintain confidence in themselves and in each other. This sexism is not only present in the political domain. It starts much earlier. Women's confidence is greatly influenced by their education. This is due to the gender psyche. The gendered psyche is “a deeply ingrained imprint that propels men into politics, but regulates women to the periphery of the electoral arena” (Lawless and Fox 12). The gendered psyche accumulates during childhood, when traditional gender roles are established. This is seen through the presence of political conversations. The study by Lawless and Fox showed that "women were 15% less likely than men to have their parents encourage them to runin the elections”, and even at a more fundamental level, “they were almost 20% less likely to have this father”. talk to them about politics” (Lawless and Fox 67). These differences are representative of “traditional gender socialization patterns that favor men’s greater ability to enter the political sphere” (Lawless and Fox 67). Women who do not have this support at home do not have the same confidence in their abilities when they enter politics. Studies have shown that regions with more traditional cultures have fewer women in politics (Paxton, Kunovich, and Hughes 271). It is this atmosphere that makes women less self-confident, which has a significant political impact. Women focus on different aspects of politics when in power. This means they propose different bills and vote differently than their male counterparts. One study showed that “female senators are more likely than men to prioritize issues related to health care, the environment, and education” (Fridkin and Kenney 11). Another study showed that “female legislators more often than men gave priority to bills dealing with children and families” (Thomas 967). In general, women have also been found to be more liberal and use a wider range of resources to craft new policy (Carroll 977). These differences are reflected in the way women parliamentarians vote. Women are “more likely to vote for bills concerning women’s issues” (Paxton, Kunovich, and Hughes 273). These differences indicate that women in power will result in different laws being passed. Therefore, the confidence barrier that prevents women from running for office has a very large-scale impact. Not only do women propose different bills, but the bills and ideas they have are treated differently. Lawmakers and the media treat bills and ideas differently, depending on the gender of the person proposing them. “Reporters and editors favor male senators over female senators in terms of the number of paragraphs written, the amount of media coverage, and the accuracy with which they represent messages emanating from senators' offices” (Fridkin and Kenney 11 ). This means that much of what senators have to say is either ignored or misrepresented by the media. Likewise, “bills sponsored by women are subject to more scrutiny, debate, and hostile testimony than bills sponsored by men” (Paxton, Kunovich, and Hughes 274). When bills and ideas from women are treated differently, it impacts what becomes policy. One solution to the lack of confidence among women, particularly in politics, is to offer them support and recruit them. Women are more likely to be confident in their abilities if they have support from someone else. “If all women in the pool of eligible candidates were given the suggestion to run for office…then…the gender gap in consideration for candidacy would decrease significantly” (Lawless and Fox 148). Women's organizations are a group of organizations that have done exceptional work in encouraging women. These organizations have been shown to promote real change. Women contacted by these organizations are statistically more likely to advance in the political field (Lawless and Fox 105). Women's organizations provide support and reinforce the idea that women are capable of success. This feedback.