The Feminist Club was eager to launch into discussion about issues concerning women’s rights in room E3 on Sept. 16.
The Feminist Club meets every Monday for the purpose of shedding light on various issues related to sexual inequality, and coming up with and sharing ideas on how students can become involved in and help with these issues.
Dr. Vera Jacobson, the club’s staff sponsor, explained the aim of the club in Monday’s meeting: “The goal is to bring awareness to the inequalities of global women’s rights.”
Jumping straight into an overseas issue, Claire Porter stepped up to share with the club a story of her recent work in Costa Rica helping the organization Salvado Corazones on what she called “the first ever Costa Rican safe house” for young girls.
During her trip to Costa Rica, Porter learned a lot about the girls that were being taken care of by Salvado Corazones, many of which had a rough past that involved sexual abuse and/or drug abuse.
Porter explained her reasons for wanting to help these girls: “I got super empowered and really into feminism and equality among the sexes my junior year.”
The primary project that Porter worked on was building a chicken coop for the girls at the safe house. The chickens will help the girls by providing a source of eggs they could use to sell and make a profit.
Porter’s trip ties back into the primary goal of the club, to help with sexual equality and women’s rights around the world. She went on to suggest a visit next year to Costa Rica in which any interested club members could participate to provide additional help.
Member Kalila Kirk shared a presentation regarding potential volunteer work that the club could participate in: the Sept. 19 Planned Parenthood Mar Monte’s Donor Appreciation Event. Kirk explained that by assisting with registration set-up, food services, and clean up, they could be a huge help to the organization during this event.
Kirk went on to explain that people who donate to Planned Parenthood “keep the service alive,” and that this event would be a simple way of saying thank you to the donors, and thanking Planned Parenthood for the help it provides to “thousands of people, men, women, and children.”
This will be an opportunity for the Feminist Club to get involved with an organization that is actively helping young men and women by providing both contraceptive and cancer related services.
The club meeting was brought to a close by Samantha Samuelsen, the club president, who brought the club’s attention to the 50 Million Missing Campaign, a global effort to stop the female genocide occurring in India.
Samuelsen showed a short clip portraying how women in India are having their rights infringed upon. These women are beaten for frequenting bars or being seen interacting with men, and are often require medical attention due to the violence of the groups of people who see and disapprove of the women’s involvement in these situations.
Before ending the meeting, Samuelsen illustrated the way that the Feminist club could help with this global issue: she encouraged members to sign the online petition which would support the “lobby for international acknowledgement and recognition of this gender specific mass elimination [of women].”
The Feminist Club currently plans to appear in the club fair to help raise awareness of issues of women’s rights to the rest of the school community, and to show potential club members what they have to offer.
The Feminist Club is dedicated to making an impact on the multitude of women’s rights issues existing around the globe.