Abstract
The purpose of this phenomenological study was to discover what experiences fostered political ambition in women veterans who anticipated running for state or federal office within the next 10 years. The aim of this study was to utilize the evidence produced on female veterans’ political ambition to develop an education curriculum that could be utilized to recruit and educate more women veterans to run for elected office. To achieve this, data were collected through semi-structured interviews of 12 women veterans from the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, United States Navy, and United States Air Force. Data were also collected through researcher field notes. Seven themes emerged from this collection and analysis: women veterans’ political ambitions are driven by a need to serve and lead others, leadership experiences increase leadership selfefficacy, encouragement to run enhances political ambition, gender roles influence a woman veteran’s decision on when to run but not if, women veterans possess agentic characteristics, women veterans perceive a double bind of power in politics, and exposure to gender based stereotypes enhances women veterans’ political ambition. The implication for this study on future political ambition research lies in the linkage between political ambition and leadership identity development. Participants in this study were found to have increased leadership self-efficacy based on their military leadership experiences, which impacted the participants’ feelings of qualification for elected office. Additionally, participants were driven towards elected office based on their desire to continue serving and leading others after a military career. The foundation of an education curriculum to be utilized by candidate training organizations was developed based on the information learned in this study.|Keywords: Political ambition, women veterans, servant leadership, leadership identity