What is it about?
In our survey of U.S. mayors, 80 percent experienced some type of physical violence or psychological abuse. Overall, only one factor, gender, had statistically significant relationships to both psychological abuse and physical violence. Female mayors were more than twice as likely as males to experience psychological abuse and almost three times as likely to experience physical violence
Featured Image
Why is it important?
The results of this research matter because such experiences may affect mayors’ ability to focus on their jobs and continue their commitments to political careers. Second, female mayors faced more of these negative experiences than male mayors. Since, in 2019, only 21 percent of mayors are female and efforts toward diverse representation may be negatively affected. Third, such experiences may deter newcomers from seeking public office in the first place. The personal costs of running for and serving may be calculated as exceeding the personal, political, or policy benefits of doing so.
Perspectives
To our knowledge, this is the first study of violence and abuse faced by U.S. officeholders on any level of government. We hope that the findings of this research will spur more work in this important area.
Sue Thomas
Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Physical violence and psychological abuse against female and male mayors in the United States, Politics Groups and Identities, June 2019, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/21565503.2019.1629321.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
