This summer we’re excited to offer our first multi-generational program, focusing on one of the greatest and most enduring challenges of our day: advancing the rights of women and girls. The challenges are clear and complex. In the United States, women still earn 0.79 cents to a white man’s dollar. That number is significantly lower for women of color, and moms. And on an average day, women globally spend about three times as many hours on unpaid domestic and care work as men (4.2 hours compared to 1.7). At the current rate of progress, it will take another 108 years to reach gender parity. We can and must do better.
We invite high school youth to join us to:
- Learn from experts about challenges facing women and girls in the US and worldwide. Scholars will explore framing concepts including: the human rights framework, the evolution of modern feminism, gender justice, and more. They’ll also take a deep dive into three hallmark issues for the women’s rights movement: workplace justice, including equal pay; reproductive rights; and access to education.
- Unpack underlying systemic challenges around gender justice, racial justice, and more. Like every other challenge we face, threats to the rights of women and girls are based on deeply-rooted economic, social, institutional and personal biases. Moving forward on any of these issues requires an intense examination of why and how we got to this place.
- Build powerful skills for engaging your peers and communities around advancing the rights of women and girls. We’ll start with personal reflection on our own power and privilege, then move on to building skills for engaging others through dialogue and conflict-resolution. We’ll cap it all off with a deep dive into skills for speaking out, from writing for a local paper to meeting with an elected official to organizing a group or event. The experience culminates with each team drafting a project they can launch in their community.
