Women in Politics: Breaking Down the Barriers to Achieve True Representation Book Review

Full disclosure: I was given a copy of this book by Books Publicity Services in exchange for an honest review.

Content warning: this review talks about mental health and suicide.

I’m not one who gets into politics that much, but it’s amazing to see how many women were running for various political offices, including for President, in 2024. There’s still a long way to go to achieve true and equal representation in that area. Luckily, while the most recent election cycle was going on, I read the book Women in Politics: Breaking Down the Barriers to Achieve True Representation by Mary Chung Hayashi. It provided reasons why women face obstacles while running for political offices and reasonable advice on how to overcome in a highly approachable way.

 Women in Politics: Breaking Down the Barriers to Achieve True Representation explores the strides women made in government. This contemporary analysis bridges the gap between past and present, blending Hayashi’s personal journey as an Asian American immigrant and former California State Assemblymember with the inspiring stories of trailblazing women in political leadership. By featuring interviews and insightful discussions, Hayashi brings to life the trials and triumphs of these women, showcasing their invaluable contributions to political landscapes and the transformative power of their perseverance. Her work sheds light on the ongoing struggles for gender-political equality and serves as a call to people to actively participate in shaping our democracy. It’s a tribute to the women’s political journey and a compass guiding us all toward a future of inclusive leadership and a truly representative democracy.

This is the kind of book for women who are looking to get into politics. I’m not one of those women, but I found a lot to love about it. 

At under 200 pages, it’s a comprehensible book about how women can get into politics more. Hayashi delivers her messages in a clear and easy manner that doesn’t talk down to its readers. She’s willing to get to the bottom of the issue of why not enough women are in politics even if it can get uncomfortable. Moreover, she interviews several women of various backgrounds, including former and current female politicians, in order to get their stories of struggles and triumphs. In addition, the book is well structured. It’s divided up into three parts: Inspiration, Barriers, and Achieving Gender Parity. Each chapter is no more than 20 pages, so readers could get it done in a week, or two if they want to savor each sentence the author wrote like I did. 

Another thing that works about this book is the realistic assessments of why women usually don’t participate in politics and what needs to be done to achieve that. These include motherhood, money, and racial bias. Hayashi argues that one of the chief reasons why this is a problem is because of the “good girl” mentality. She was familiar with it since she grew up in South Korea, where that was a common idea of what women and girls should be. This meant getting married, raising children, keeping thoughts and opinions to themselves, and avoiding conflict (p. 6). In other words, they were meant to be seen and not heard. This frame of mind is present in other cultures, including Western ones. Hayashi managed to distance herself from that way of thinking when she lived in the United States during her adolescent years, saw Connie Chung – the first Asian-American newswomen – on television, and took a Women’s Studies course at California State University (p. 8 and 9). She acknowledges that it’s a hard one for society to move past, and it’s not going to happen overnight.

But what can women do? Although Hayashi is a realist when it comes to the barriers that women face when dealing with politics, she’s optimist when it comes to overcoming them. These include having role models; mentors, both older and peers; and allies. The one piece of advice that sort of surprised me was having male allies. In today’s world, women are infused with the whole idea that they don’t need a man. In Hayashi’s view, they do need male mentorship if they want to succeed in politics. Specifically, she references a study from Messengers Matter: Why Advancing Gender Equity Requires Male Allies, which found that “those men who may not be open to discussing gender equity with women are available to the same message when a man delivers it. In other words, one of the most meaningful actions men can do for gender equity is to confront discrimination and gender bias against women in conversation with other men” (p. 138-139).

This is why Hayashi argues that both men and women need to be in the fight against discrimination.

The biggest strength of this book is Mary herself. Throughout, she shares her story of how she got into politics, the barriers she had to face, and the things that she accomplished while holding various offices. It was incredibly moving to hear how her platform was about mental health since her oldest sister took her life when Mary was young. She wanted to honor her sister by trying to get laws passed that helped others going through mental health issues since her family essentially erased her after she died. Some reviewers wonder why Hayashi didn’t just write a memoir because her story was so powerful. My theory is that some people want to write something more than about their own lives, and this is the case for Hayashi. She clearly wanted to encourage women to run for office, so what better way to do that than to tell them what she and other female politicians went through and impart some advice along the way. In this case, she succeeds.

Women in Politics: Breaking Down the Barriers to Achieve True Representation by Mary Chung Hayashi is a good introduction book for any woman looking to enter politics. Hayashi is good at making arguments in a clear and concise manner that’s easy to digest. Of course, the best thing about it is the author’s story, which will resonate with readers regardless of gender. I know that I already mentioned who I would recommend this to, but I would also encourage men to read it, especially those who are looking to get into the fight against sexism. After all, men and women need to work together to combat discrimination, especially in the world of politics.

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