The New South

Georgia State Elect Her attendee Nikki Fillingim listens to a fellow student during the What’s Your Issue? exercise

The inaugural Elect Her—Campus Women Win at Georgia State University (GSU) was an opportunity for the young GSU women to see pathways for leadership that they may have never considered and the value of organizations like AAUW and Running Start in fostering those opportunities.  This was also a chance for this growing chapter to realize the impact they could have on campus elected representation.

With each exercise the young women had a chance to process questions and concerns all potential leaders must face – why am I running for office; how can I serve my community; what issues are important to me and the constituents I want to represent; how can I communicate my positions; and, most importantly, what resources will I need to run and what can I ask of my supporters.

All the guest speakers shared stories that illustrate the past and future of women running for higher office and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. Representative Stacey Abrams, Minority Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives, shared how she never considered running for office until she was encouraged to do so by another woman and how she hopes to become Georgia’s first female governor.

While the numbers for women serving in elected positions on GSU’s campus reflect some progress- 40% of positions in student government are held by women and 37.5% of the elected executive positions in student government are held by women, to date no women has served as student government president at GSU. With women representing 60% of the student population, we discussed how a strong turnout of women could help elect GSU’s first female SGA president.

GSU Student Government Association Vice President of Student Services Grace Lee was another lunch speaker and someone who might make an ideal candidate for President of the student government. Grace shared with the group how she is very interested in the possibility but it’s a difficult decision becomes it means a shift in course in her academic career.  The young women could see how this challenge is no different than what many women leaders face.

Grace’s story not only empowered the young women to consider running for positions on campus themselves,  but to start to think strategically about electing Georgia State University’s first female SGA President.

I know many of young women left the training with new ideas and possibilities on they can lead and serve!

This post was written by TLC Strategies founder Tasha Cole.