AAUW, Running Start Provide Campus Trainings to Increase the Number of Women Running for Office

October 28, 2012

Elect Her Initiative Will Expand to 39 College Campuses Next Year

WASHINGTON — The American Association of University Women (AAUW) and Running Start will bring Elect Her–Campus Women Win, the only nationwide program that trains college women to run for student government and future office, to 39 sites across the country and Jamaica in spring 2013. The number of trainings has grown from just 30 last year. Elect Her now reaches nearly every region in the nation from Georgetown University in the East to Willamette University out West, from Louisiana State University in the South to the University of Minnesota in the Midwest.

The Elect Her initiative also reaches historically black colleges and universities as well as Hispanic-serving institutions. The full list of participating schools is available on the AAUW website.

“Thanks in part to training programs like Elect Her, we’re seeing some progress in women’s leadership and representation. A record-breaking 154 women have received party nominations for U.S. House races this year,” said AAUW Executive Director Linda D. Hallman, CAE. “By encouraging and supporting more women to be leaders on their own campuses, we are helping to set them on a path for success in leadership roles after college.”

“We are thrilled to launch our fourth year of Elect Her trainings. We’ve added more sites each year, and I am impressed by the college women leaders we meet around the country,” said Running Start Executive Director Jessica Grounds. “Running Start and AAUW are certain that these women will leave inspired to lead on their campuses and beyond.”

According to data collected by the American Student Government Association from nearly 5,100 institutions, women make up approximately 52 percent of all student government representatives but only 43 percent of student government presidents. And women hold just 17 percent of the seats in the U.S. Congress and 24 percent of the seats in state legislatures. Elect Her aims to close these long-standing political gender gaps by empowering and training women to run for elective office at all levels.

Since 2008, AAUW and Running Start have collaborated to encourage college women to run for student government. Building on those successes, the organizations initiated the Elect Her–Campus Women Win training program in 2010, and the effort is already showing results for college women.

“The first time I participated in Elect Her, I was thinking about running for a senate seat in the SGA and afterwards I knew that I wanted to pursue it,” said Sydney L. Page, University of Alabama Student Government Association senator. “With the training I received as well as the contacts I gained, I not only ran a successful campaign, I was also elected with the highest number of votes. This was the first time that had ever been accomplished by an African American woman at the University of Alabama.”

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) empowers women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research. Our nonpartisan, nonprofit organization has more than 150,000 members and supporters across the United States, as well as 1,000 local branches and 700 college and university partners. Since AAUW’s founding in 1881, our members have examined and taken positions on the fundamental issues of the day — educational, social, economic, and political. Learn more and join us at www.aauw.org.

Running Start is a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring young women and girls to run for political office. Our goal is to increase the number of women in the United States who serve in elected office by planting the seed early that women are needed in politics. Our training programs emphasize that political leadership is an attainable and exciting goal for young women to pursue. By educating young women and girls about the importance of politics, and imbuing them with the skills they need to be leaders, we give women the “running start” they need to achieve greater political power. With an earlier start in politics, women will climb higher on the leadership ladder, allowing more women to share in the decision making power of this country. Find out more at Running Start’s website.

 

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