This year’s four presidential candidates, two vice presidential candidates and lone treasurer candidate are all male. Among seven people running for executive office in student government, there are no women that stand in the running.
The initial news came to Student Body President Lindsay Richardson as quite a shock.
"The news that there would not be a woman running for executive office this year did come as a disappointment to me because I believe the world would be a much better place overall if there were more women in leadership positions," Richardson said in an email.
As of the 2014-2015 school year, USC had 24,180 students enrolled. The breakdown was 46 percent male and 54 percent female. Half of the USC student body is made of women as well as approximately half of the student Senate.
Yet there remain no female candidates on this year's Student Government executive office election ballot.
“While our organization has not put forth another woman as an executive officer, we have seen an increase in women being involved in the senate, cabinet and freshman council,” Richardson said.
There were no stand-out candidates that emerged from the student government’s pool; however, the current Student Body President had hoped someone from an outside organization would step up to the challenge.
Although Richardson was disappointed, she realizes the change could not happen over night.
”Women in leadership is still an unorthodox concept nationally,” Richardson said. “Although we have made great progress and have made more cracks to the glass ceiling, there is still more progress to be made.”
Richardson hopes the increase in female leadership across campus will carry over into Student Government.
“I believe we will start seeing an increase in women running for high offices in the next few years,” she said. “Across our campus, there have been women stepping into more leadership positions.”
The increase, however, can be seen across campus in various organizations throughout the USC community. Venisha Pendergrass was just elected as the president of Residence Hall Association. Rachel Scola serves as the president of Carolina Production’s executive board. Rachel Smoak is the president of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
This is not the end for women in leadership positions within USC, according to Richardson.
“As women, we have greater ability and influence than we often give ourselves credit for,” she said. “If every woman on campus realized her potential, I can only imagine how much greater our Carolina would be.”