Women lag in student gov't leadership roles

Women enter Penn in greater numbers than men. They graduate in greater numbers, too. But in elected student government in recent years, women are sorely lacking.

The last time a woman was president of any class board was over three years ago, when Meredith Seidel led the Class of 2004.

About one quarter of the candidates for freshman class president this year were women, but in the years since Seidel was senior class president, no woman has even run for president of the sophomore, junior or senior class board.

Current class board presidents say they are unsure why more women don't run. Class boards in general are "pretty representative of the student body, and the current situation is probably just a temporary trend," junior class President Puneet Singh said.

Those who have been at Penn long enough to observe several generations of student governance agree.

Director of Student Life Fran Walker noted that in years past, all six branches of student government have been headed by women.

"When you look at percentages, yes, women are underrepresented," Walker said. "But in practical terms, over the past 10 years, there have been a good number of women in student government."

The Undergraduate Assembly has a slightly more equitable ratio of women to men than recent class-board leadership.

There are now 12 women on the UA, roughly 36 percent of the total.

Two out of the five members of the UA's executive board are also women.

"I think we are very diverse, in particular our freshman class," said College junior Sarah Abroms, the UA's executive vice chairwoman. "There are a lot of women in leadership positions at Penn."

Abroms pointed out that half of the eight incoming freshman representatives are women.

Compared to its peer schools, Penn ranks in the middle in the number of women involved in student politics.

Female representation in student government this year at Princeton, Brown, Yale and Harvard universities stood at 44, 40, 36 and 32 percent, respectively.

"This year there has been a decrease in the number of women represented," said Harvard senior Ashwin Kaja, former secretary of Harvard's student government, the University Council. "Many people have recognized this . and are thinking about ways to reach out to women on campus."

He added that last year a bill was nearly passed in the University Council that would have allocated money for student government events geared specifically toward women, in hopes of increasing their representation. Ultimately, however, the bill did not pass.

Meanwhile, UA members say they are conscious of the imbalance, but don't have any particular plan to combat it.

"I've had a great time as a woman in the UA," said College senior Georgiana Cavendish, who has been elected to the UA four times. "And I think we can do more to encourage young, freshman women to run."

Cavendish said that if women's groups on campus continue to support and endorse candidates, the next generation of women leaders at Penn will be encouraged to run.

Those who study women in national elections agree that even women at schools like Penn might need a little encouragement to make them think that running for office is worthwhile.

"Women need to be asked more often to run and are generally more reluctant to run," said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

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