Women empowerment and gender equality are substantial topics in newly introduced club ‘Girl Up’, a committed group that aims to create a more supportive and inclusive community at Barstow.
In a promising age of change, girls across the world have risen to empowerment in efforts to enforce gender equality. At Barstow, students have started Girl Up, a club centered around the unification and inspiration of women. Nationally, powerful movements like #MeToo has emphasized the importance of speaking out against gender discrimination, while even widespread entertainment has embraced this topic with the recent release of the Barbie movie, celebrating women’s diverse strengths and narratives.
The movement’s initiative is to empower underrepresented women in their communities. Founded in 2010, Girl Up is a foundation associated with the United Nations operating across the globe to enforce their initiatives and values.
The strengths of this organization include being youth-centered and passionate to create a global community of accountability. The group is driven by their youth; they can advocate change for social issues with new perspectives.
As the organization prioritizes feedback and inclusion, members are to be held accountable by applying responses and criticism to the group’s efforts of gender equality and women empowerment.
President Rania Ahsan ‘27 recounts why she was inspired to start Girl Up at Barstow: “When I was enrolling for upper school, I took a look at the list of clubs, and I noticed there weren’t any [groups] that had the same mission as Girl Up that [emphasize] empowering women.” She then explains how she observed chapters of Girl Up across the world and became inspired to start the group at Barstow. With further coordination, Ahsan was able to incorporate Girl Up into the list of upper-school clubs.
Duha Azaz ‘27, a member of Girl Up, resonates with Ahsan’s explanation of creating the group, saying “Having [Girl Up] will allow us to [work toward] closing the gender gap disparities at Barstow. By encouraging others, we can, for example, increase turnouts in the attendance of Girls’ sports games.” Azaz highlights how activities arranged by the club could be a great way to bring attention to the subject of gender equality at Barstow.
Taking the values of Girl Up into consideration, members of the group have brainstormed plans for starting on a good foot for the school year. This occurred at the first club meeting which was held on September 27th. During lunch flex, participants were introduced to the club’s initiatives and discussed ways to incorporate the values of Girl Up into Barstow School pride.
Inaya Gadit ‘26 was in attendance at this meeting, and she expressed her excitement about the possibilities that the group could present: “Even after the first meeting, I got lots of exposure to the topic of women empowerment that I wasn’t aware of before. I have heard about their wide range of events planned, from hosting stands to having fashion shows, and these activities will be a great method to increase participation and school pride.”
Gadit wishes to engage in these upcoming events to support serious topics.
About the club’s plans for October and how this month holds importance to Girl Up, Ahsan exclaims that “While empowering women, we also want to bring awareness to other significant topics. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and [members of Girl Up] have decided to sponsor the upper school mixer that follows the Pink-Out Volleyball game on October 12th.” The purpose of the sponsorship is to bring further recognition to the topic and supply background information on breast cancer.
In addition to sponsoring the mixer for awareness, Girl Up hosted a morning stand from 8:00-8:30 A.M. on October 11th, where merchandise dedicated toward Breast Cancer awareness was sold. Girl Up aims to cover background on the topic that students or staff may mull over by having this stand.
“We know what we are supporting when doing Pink Out, however at the same time, [people ask] questions about why exactly we support [breast cancer], where we can become educated, and how we can support different charities for the cause,” says Ahsan. She also describes that the significant acknowledgment will support those struggling with this disease and charities funding cancer research.
With more participation as the year progresses, Girl Up can positively impact Barstow by promoting gender equality and a more inclusive community. Joining this remarkable group promises not only education on important social issues but also an opportunity for engagement in meaningful activities that champion women’s empowerment.
