The Political Tech Glass Ceiling

Abstract

The introduction conveys how political technology lies at the intersection of two male-dominated fields—politics and technology—and has grown significantly in electoral importance in the 21st century. It relates how campaigns have increasingly organized dedicated divisions for technology, digital media, data, and analytics operations and have turned to a growing field of specialized political practitioners and the tech industry itself to staff them. The introduction previews the key findings and details the plan of the book. It also makes three primary arguments about the importance of gender diversity for campaigns in terms of messaging, technological design, and the functioning of campaign organizations. The introduction further argues that gender diversity matters for equity and fairness in the workforce and political culture more broadly.