Women In Student Government… Is It Important?
Simply put, yes, it’s extremely important that women are involved in student government… in all types of government. The only way to make sure legislation is written inclusively, is to make sure there is inclusive representation in the room where it happens, as said in Hamilton. In my home state of Ohio, there have been two abortion ban bills (Senate Bill 23 and House Bill 413) introduced in the past year. The sponsors of these bills are, in a way, shocking. The primary sponsor for both bills has been white women and almost all of the co-sponsors is white men. Most of those who voted against Senate Bill 23 earlier this year were white women (26%), women of color (21%), and men of color (15%). Whereas those who voted for SB 23 were 85% white men, 14% white women, and only one man of color. Having more representation of women, especially women of color, drastically affects what bills are passed. Particularly because legislation like abortion ban bills affect women of color the most.
Being recently appointed as Senator of Off-Campus and Commuter Students for Kent State University’s Undergraduate Student Government, I find real value in the experience we all are receiving. I am lucky to be a part of an USG that is about 44% women with 4 women out of 8 directors, 7 women out of 16 senators, and 1 woman out of 3 in the office of the president. This is much higher than the national average for women in Undergraduate Student Government that is around 33%. This is startling because women make up about 59% of collegiate students.
Donald Wolford (left) and Megan Milam (right) — Lauren Novick
“College women just aren’t running for office.”
So, why does Undergraduate Student Government not accurately reflect the student body? The answer is a lot simpler than you would think. College women just aren’t running for office. Just like in other public offices, women have just as good of a chance of winning as their male counterparts. They just aren’t putting themselves out there.
Women don’t receive as much encouragement from their peers to run than male students. Women are only more likely to run if they are asked multiple times to run. In my case, I didn’t run for my position, it was appointed. I didn’t run for a position because of multiple reasons. The two big ones were that I didn’t even know we had an Undergraduate Student Government and when I found out about it, I didn’t feel like I would have been the best candidate and I without a doubt would have lost. In reality, every candidate was just as likely to win or lose.
“56% of congresswomen got their political start in student government.”
This past February, Kent State’s Women Center found an amazing program called #ElectHer to bring to campus. The organization that runs the program is called Running Start. The program teaches collegiate women and minorities how to run for student government and the importance of representation on campus. Not only does it help the college campus, research shows that women who are involved in student government are more likely to run for public office after graduation. 56% of Congresswomen got their political start in student government. Running Start also provides fellowships for college students and a high school program.
During the program, current USG members had a panel about everything USG. They talked a lot about their own journey to USG and the upcoming election. Hearing them talk about what it’s like to be in USG made me want to join. After the election, I applied for an appointed position on the allocations committee. I was so overjoyed to be chosen as a member of the committee! Over the summer, I made sure to be part of as many other committees as I could. I joined the committee on rules, committee on governmental affairs, and was appointed as election commissioner for the upcoming election. Halfway through this fall semester, our Chief of Staff resigned and I applied for the position. Our former Senator for Off-Campus and Commuter Students, Mr. Wolford, became our new Chief and I was appointed to his former position. I can say, without a doubt, that if I didn’t attend the #ElectHer event, I wouldn’t have applied for allocations and I definitely wouldn’t have my current position.
Running Start #ElectHer, Kent State University — February 2, 2019
Being a member of USG, I have learned many skills that I’ll be able to use in the future when I decide to run for public office. Through USG, I have learned how to write legislation and “whip” votes. Because of this experience, I feel a lot more comfortable potentially running for a low-level position and working my way up to running for the House of Representatives. I would not feel this way without the opportunities I have had with Undergraduate Student Government.
I think everyone should at least put themselves out there and run or apply for a position on their student government. It has opened so many doors for me and I’ve only been in student government for a semester! So many of my peers on USG have told me that the reason they ran for student government is because they saw a problem on campus and wanted to do whatever they could to fix that problem. This semester alone, we have passed legislation to incentivize community service in the area and increase funding for mental health services, which is much needed. Student government is the place to make small changes that have a big impact.