The first thing Jane Hong saw after announcing her candidacy for Student Association vice president read, “We need real men in leadership.”

That “disheartening” comment brought her back to the playground of high school and middle school when boys teased her that she could never be class president.

“That’s something I’ve always resented,” Hong said. “I didn’t understand why people were using my gender against me. That’s something that’s not in my control.”

Hong is running as a vice presidential candidate with presidential candidate Aysha Seedat. The two are the first to run as an all-female ticket since SA changed the bylaws in 2013 so students elect a president and vice president together.

The pair is part of the growing national trend of an increased number of female candidates in college government. Of the top 100 institutions ranked this year by U.S. News and World Report, one-third have female student body presidents, according to the American Student Government Association.

This is a slight rise from 30 percent, which The Washington Post reported in 2011 from the same sample size. Despite the growing numbers, Seedat has still heard sexist pushback.

“Jane and I were called tons of names after we announced our candidacy,” Seedat said in an email. “I was called a ‘bitch,’ a ‘raging crazy feminist,’ a ‘c*nt,’ etc. It was hard to see these comments.”

These comments appeared in comments below Daily Orange articles about the candidates, on the anonymous app Yik Yak and in mutterings as students passed on campus. Hong has been subject to slurs like “chink.”

Tatiana Cadet, a female write-in candidate for SA president, said in an email she has not felt any hostility because of her gender.

Allie Curtis, former female SA president, stood trial for impeachment in 2013. During the proceedings, she said one of her cabinet members approached her and said, “The only reason you won is because you’re a girl and you’re pretty.”

Since the incident occurred in a closed-doors SA meeting, no records exist. Kerry Foxx, associate director of the Office of Student Activities, said he remembers “hearing something like that,” but doesn’t recall if it was during the impeachment trial.

Curtis, now an employee of Elect Her, a woman’s empowerment training program, said that many female candidates can feel apprehensive to run, just like she did.

Curtis almost didn’t run for president because she felt unsure of how she would handle all the criticism which comes with public office. Now, with Elect Her, the aim is to ensure no student feels the way she did.

“It’s not that I want to necessarily see more women on the ballot,” she said. “I just want to see more women comfortable with getting on the ballot.”

Curtis, a California native, is friends with Jordan Fowler, the recently-elected vice president of the University of Southern California’s Undergraduate Student Government. Fowler and President Rini Sampath became the first all-female ticket to win election at a Pacific-12 Conference school. Sampath is the first female USG president in a decade.

But Sampath and Fowler didn’t run to be lauded for breaking a gender-barrier. They did it because they felt they were the most qualified for the job, Fowler said.

“We didn’t run to be historic,” Fowler said. “We did it because we both thought we were the most qualified for the job. Women shouldn’t let things that happened in the past hold you back from going after things that you can accomplish.”

Published on April 15, 2015 at 10:11 pm

Contact Sam: sjfortie@syr.edu | @Sam4TR