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She for S(he) - A Club at Harbord Collegiate
She for S(he) is a club at our school that focuses on the difficulties and problems that women face day to day. Each meeting there is a topic that the girls discuss, sometimes there are discussions about what can be done to make changes in the school and other times there are discussions about how the girls in the club are personally affected by gender stereotypes. The club is trying to inform the school about the true definition of feminism and has been “testing the waters” to see how the students of Harbord C.I. react to knowing that some of their classmates are feminists.
Before the holiday break, each member of She for S(he) made posters that said “I’m a Feminist because…” with a personal reason why they’re a feminist. The group members then individually posed with their poster to have their photo taken. The photos where then printed and put up all around the school for everyone to see. For the most part, it received great feedback but there were the very few, “I didn’t know you were a feminist, why?”. The club’s goal is not only to make the school aware about what being a feminist really is, it’s also to give the members of the club (and students at Harbord) a safe environment to talk about certain things they’ve had difficulty with because of the fact that they are female.
Now, although this year’s She for S(he) club has been making a positive change in the school, last year there was a similar club that wasn’t very successful at all..
Before She for S(he), there was a Women's Empowerment club at our school. This club was a lot less successful at making a change. The meetings were very poorly run, and there was less of a focus on equality between the sexes; it seemed to be only perpetuating the negative views of feminism. More and more Harbord students were considering the club quite useless, which then in turn, led to the idea that feminism was useless in today's society. The Harbord students who thought that the club was dumb, also made that same association towards feminism.
Last year’s club, has made it harder on She for S(he) this year by having what ever doubts there were about feminism in our school be reinforced in a way. She for S(he) is now, slowly but surely, changing the view on feminism that Harbord student’s have with more strong campaigning of the true definition of feminism, more organized meetings and a firm idea on what they want achieved in our school.
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4 Comment(s)
Wow what an interesting club. I like the reflection and thought you put in to the blog entry. Issues such as feminism often have a lot of negative stereotypes.I like the initiative you are putting in to get rid of these generalizations and inform individuals more. Just curious, what actions/initIatives will you take and perform in the future?
I love this blog!! I love the fact that you focused on what is happening in your own back yard. I appreciate the reflection you provided on your own experience. What do you think could be done different in the future?
Thank you!
I believe that we should definitely try to not make it completely centred around women, even though it's a huge part of the club, I believe that centring it around both genders rather than trying to have it be more appealing towards girls would draw in both sexes. This could then enable the club to make a bigger difference in the school and it would reach a wider audience.
This is a very interesting club, and I am glad to see that it is creating a recognizable change within your school! It is great that you are providing an environment for members to talk about difficulties with being females, but I was just wondering if there are any male members are your group. Although it is very important to help girls feel more supported in society, a huge part of this is also raising awareness towards males and what they can do to help females feel more comfortable within the school and the community. I was also wondering if you have ever discussed issues of sexism in other countries? Those may be interesting cases to work with during club meetings.
I am sorry to inform you that there aren't any male members in the club. We do recognize that in order for things to actually start changing, we need both genders on board but most guys are ashamed to call themselves a feminist even if they are all for equality among the sexes. We have definitely tried to get guys in the group but it hasn't worked up until this point.
She for S(he) has briefly discussed sexism in other countries, we have definitely planned on talking about it some time in the next few meetings. Thanks for the suggestion :)
Great blog Harbord! It is very interesting to see how the demeanor and efficiency of the group can translate into support from fellow peers in the school. Issues such as feminism can very easily be misinterpreted by students, but by placing a more personal connection to the subject with the posters you created, you are clearly trying to remove any negative stereotypes. When dealing with global citizenship, we often forget that it starts locally in areas such as schools where you have decided to tackle gender inequality in a very proactive manner. Some questions I have after reading about “She for S(he)" is weather its main goal is to educate students or to addresses possible bullying or widespread stereotyping in the community? Also, after posting the posters, did you see more students get involved in the initiative, or just a general acceptance of the program by your peers?
I would have to say that our main goal would be to educate students first and for-most because once people are educated, they are able to make their own opinion when they have all the facts. As of right now, people are coming to their own conclusions with a misinterpretation of what feminism truly is and we hope that educating them will have them change their current opinion.
After the posters were put up, we didn't get more members into the club but our peers seemed to finally realize that She for S(he) isn't an anti-men club and it's really just a club that wants to focus on equality among the sexes.
Michelle
Mar 11, 2015