ABSTRACT
Sentiments about women in a political capacity are shaped by long-standing cultural assumptions about the roles women are expected to fulfill. Liberal political thought divides the world into the public and private realms. For much of US history, women were explicitly denied a political role. Few successful candidates, women or men, begin their political careers by running for US Congress or the presidency. This chapter explores the evolution of the informal norms and attitudes about women and politics that still shape women's possibilities for success. The informal barrier to women's entrance into politics was a way of thinking about the world that separated life into public and private arenas, assigning men to the public realm and women to the private. The Civil War brought a second expansion of women's activity in the public world through their work in various social causes, particularly the abolition and temperance movements.
