Black Women Candidates Face Double Standards in Political Elections, Author's Experience Shows

When I decided to run for president, I instantly became 'difficult to work with' and 'mean.'

Research on women candidates confirms that voters are less likely to vote for a woman if they don't like her; by comparison, voters don't need to like men to elect them.

My experience running for public office reflected the systemic bias and double standards not just for women candidates, but Black women candidates who dare to aspire to any sort of political leadership.

Electing more Black women will take real investment in changing the biases and attitudes (conscious and unconscious) of mostly white donors, media, campaign staff, consultants and institutional leaders.

We need more progressive Black women in public office for a myriad reasons, but we also specifically need the younger generation of Instigators in office, candidates who understand the times in which we live currently.