Michele Bachmann announced on Wednesday that she is disbanding her campaign. Now that she is no longer pursuing the Republican nomination, there are no other female candidates running for president. However, this absence is consistent with overall political trends: while women consist of 51 percent of the population, they hold 17 percent of congressional seats, 22 percent of state senate seats, and 24 percent of state house seats. Dianne Bystrom, director of the Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University, and Tiffany Dufu, president of the White House Project, discuss the obstacles to women successfully running for office.
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