South Carolina Women in Leadership (SC WIL) will celebrate six years in operation with in-person birthday parties in four regional locations and more than 15 watch parties hosted by SC WIL participants in local communities across the state on April 16, 2024, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Party-goers will include SC WIL Founders, Board of Directors, participants, women currently serving in elected and appointed office, and female candidates. SC WIL will share inspirational stories, recognize all the female candidates who have filed to run for elected office in the 2024 election cycle, highlight its 2024 Female Candidate Roster, and release its 2023 Annual Report via live stream to the events from 6:15-6:30 p.m. Regional locations are open to the public, R.S.V.P. is required. The media is welcome at the regional locations or to join the live stream at the link provided below.
SC WIL is a statewide multi-partisan organization working to increase the number of women in elected office and on public appointed boards and commissions in South Carolina. Women comprise 51% of the population of the state but currently hold only 15.3% of seats in the S.C. General Assembly and are similarly underrepresented in county and municipal government and public-appointed office. SC WIL is the only organization in South Carolina solely focused on recruiting women from across the state to seek elected or appointed office and providing training, resources, and information to help them win leadership positions at all levels in our government.
“Our rallying cry is More in 2024,” says SC WIL CEO Barbara Rackes. “We believe South Carolina’s government should represent all of its citizens. The diversity of the people of our state is not adequately reflected in our elected and appointed leaders, and that needs to change. It’s about gender parity, but it’s also about increasing diversity in ethnicity, age, professions, and socio-economic backgrounds.”
SC WIL is well on its way to reaching that goal. The filing period closed on April 1, 2024, with 283 female candidates stepping up to run, and an additional 300-400 candidates are expected to file in August for school board races. To encourage voters to learn more about female candidates, SC WIL maintains its Female Candidate Roster, the only multi-partisan registry of its kind in South Carolina.
There are also abundant opportunities for women to lead in the thousands of seats on public appointed boards and commissions at the local, county, and state levels. SC WIL also maintains its Governmental Appointments Project database, the only comprehensive statewide listing of open positions on public appointed boards and commissions.
Malinda Terry, a member of the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice Parole Board, says, “SC WIL will help you find the board that is the perfect fit for your interests and experience. They helped me with every step of my application and confirmation process. I’ve been serving for two years, and I feel like I am really making a difference in the lives of South Carolinians.”
When women run for political office, they are just as likely as men to be elected. But women are less likely to be asked to run, and even when they are recruited, they often believe they are less qualified. Experience shapes how leaders govern, and women’s experiences undoubtedly are different from men’s. Women need their perspectives to be heard - and incorporated into policy decisions. In an era of unprecedented polarization, women in office have demonstrated the ability to identify common goals and work together across the aisle on key issues to improve communities. And on average, women bring more funding back to their home districts than their male colleagues.
SC WIL trained more than 600 women through in-person and live virtual workshops in 2023. Its online, self-paced lessons were viewed 2,179 times. Launched at the end of November 2023, the WIL Win! Campaign Activation Toolkit was accessed 257 times. The free toolkit includes a timeline to walk candidates through what they should do and when, as well as information, training, tracking tools, graphic design templates, resources, and more to implement every aspect of a political campaign. View SC WIL’s 2023 Annual Report at this link.
Visit scwomenlead.net for more information.
