An effective political campaign is a connected series of operations designed to persuade constituents to vote for you, your candidate, a party or an issue. Campaigns require methodical planning, organization and implementation.

Women face a number of obstacles implementing effective, winning campaigns. Women generally have more difficulty than men do in raising sufficient funds to win a campaign, in large part because they are traditionally not the primary breadwinners. Similarly, women may not have equal access to decision-making regarding the distribution of funds. Traditionally, women must earn the internal support of their party or, alternatively, work even harder to win as independent candidates. Rather than focusing on the substance of a campaign and its message, the media and the public may focus instead on the appearance of a woman candidate or her role in the home. To earn the support of their own party and constituents, women must work harder than men do to create clean, targeted and compelling messages.