Women leaders discuss gender disparity in light of USG election

The gender disparity in visible leadership positions at the University, as well as the general challenges women face in pursuing leadership positions, were discussed at a Women’s Mentorship Program panel on Friday.

Politics professor Tali Mendelberg, who moderated the discussion, explained that the event was motivated by the recent Undergraduate Student Government presidential election, in which the unique pressures women face during campaigns became central topics of discussion.

Speakers included former USG vice president and former USG presidential candidate Catherine Ettman ’13, former USG presidential candidate Molly Stoneman ’16 and recently elected USG president Ella Cheng ’16.

Cheng is also a former staff writer for The Daily Princetonian.

Mendelberg began the discussion by noting that while women have come a long way in gaining ground in the political arena, there is still much progress to be made. Systematic change, she said, stems from local- and community-based progress, like greater women's representation in university student governments.

Women’s underrepresentation in leadership positions, whether in student government, extracurricular clubs or the United States political arena as a whole, she said, largely stems from women’s unwillingness to subject themselves to the more intense scrutiny that they typically face as female candidates.

“On the whole, when we look at systematic studies, men and women do vote for women," Mendelberg said. "The big problem is how to overcome that imagination barrier, that willingness to put yourself out there.”

Ettman, Stoneman and Cheng discussed what prompted each of them to run for office and the various challenges they encountered while running. In particular, they noted the importance of women politicians having a support base made up of both women and men, the societal pressures to which women must conform in their public appearance and personality, the standards women in politics must meet in order to be taken seriously and how those standards differ from the ones expected of men.

Ettman, who was a Class of 2013 senator during her freshman year and vice president her sophomore year, noted that women often ask themselves “why” when considering running for office, while men simply ask “why not.”

In 2011, Ettman was part of the Steering Committee on Undergraduate Women’s Leadership when it released its report, which found that female students often chose to pursue jobs in their organization behind the scenesrather than visible leadership positions, that women consistently undersell themselves, that women feel intense pressure to behave in ways that are socially acceptable on campus and that women may benefit more than men from mentoring.

The panelists all noted the continued relevance of the report’s findings on today’s campus, specifically in light of the recent USG election and eating club controversies.

In the recent election, Cheng said that the kinds of challenges faced by her and Stoneman were ones that past male candidates had faced much less frequently, if at all.

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Cheng noted that she and Stoneman were accused of being involved in student government only to pad their resumes on Yik Yak,the anonymous social media application, while the male candidate, William Gansa '17, was applauded and supported on the application for running on a platform that, while it had the overarching goal of pointing out flaws in the USG system, was largely a joke campaign.

“I think the one feminist argument that resonated with me the most was that if a girl had tried to run his campaign, it would not have worked,” Cheng said.

Cheng said that the election got increasingly ugly — especially in the run-off — but that voters who ultimatelybelieved in her message and experience came out and helped her become USG president, a position not held by a female student in 11 years.

Cheng also noted that, after the results were announced, Gansa called her to apologize for any bad impressions she may have received during the election.

“I said, ‘I know it’s not you, I know it’s something larger than you,’” Cheng said.

Ettman explained that when her employer, Democratic Senator Wendy Davis, lost the election for Texas governor, she told her team about a rock cutter hammering away at a rock, explaining that you might not see any change for months or years, but one day the stone will break.

“You may never know how you’ve inspired other men and women to run for office, but one chip at a time, one woman at a time, you will make a difference,’” Ettman said.

The panel, entitled, “Let’s Elect Her: A Conversation with Women Candidates,” took place in Betts Auditorium at 7 p.m.