Thoughts on 21st Century Feminism

March is Women’s History Month and it provides an excellent opportunity for conversations with our girls – daughters, family members, students, mentees- starting with why a month specifically designated for “women’s” history.  As with Black History Month in February, the need for time periods set aside to recognize specific groups speaks volumes about whose stories and struggles are excluded in our larger national and global narratives.  When our girls fully understand that history is fact filtered through the perspective and experience of those empowered with the voice and means to record it, they can appreciate that much of what they learn and accept as the full story is, in fact, his-story.

I encourage you to bring “Her-story” to your daughters, sharing the stories of truly powerful women whose achievements were not on the stage of conquest and conflict, as is so much of our recorded history, but to advance common human needs and rights. You might start with those women who have made their marks in a girl’s area of interest, such as Rachel Carson and Dian Fossey in conservation or Audre Lordes and Zora Neale Hurston in literature.  Online resources are plentiful but most important are the follow up conversations with girls about the traits these women model.

Of course, our ultimate goal is to empower girls and young women to develop their voices and to have the skills and confidence to take action.  Girls find that empowerment in the Girls’ Empowerment Zone summer and school year programs.

Join us for GEZ and immerse your daughter in the empowering experiences that allow her to write her own story and to make history!

INTERNATIONAL ADVOCACY FOR WOMEN & GIRLS

A message from a Millennial:

 I started 2016 off by attending a conference in Antwerp, Belgium. This conference was a meeting of almost 200 college students from schools throughout the U.S. and Europe. All the work was done my millennials with minimal oversight from professors. During this conference, we took on the rolls of real European Parliament members and attempted to draft legislation dealing with the refugee crisis and pass it. Though all odds of drafting and passing this legislation were against us, we managed to do so all over the span of four days. I have never been more tired or felt more accomplished.

            Though the conference was simply a simulation, it was extremely inspiring and empowering to have such power in our hands. The law was up to us and it was up to us to convince others to come to our side. The week was filled with twelve hour days and many, many coffee breaks. I use the work ‘break’ loosely considering those ‘breaks’ were used to lobby each other. The craziest part of the whole conference was the fact that college students were able to create and pass a law that the actual European Parliament can’t even seem to accomplish. 

So often millennials are thought to be apathetic and lazy, but this conference proved just the opposite. There is a feeling of injustice that I think the millennial generation feels. If 200 students from various countries can get together and create and pass laws in just a short four days, imagine the other things we can accomplish if we work together. The future is truly in our hands and it is up to us to do something with it. So, if there is a sense of injustice you are feeling, I highly encourage you to channel that energy into doing something about it. Remaining silent only ever chooses the side of the oppressor. To quote Emma Watson, “If not me, who? If not now, when?”

By Gwen S.

                                www.TheWomensEmpowermentSeries.org