school for feminists
I went to a private, all-girls high school. It was a great school, I had a fantastic education and lots of adventures. But I still find myself reflecting on the strange lack of education about feminism.
The school's unofficial motto was, 'Girls can do anything!' And they did: alumni regularly came back to speak about their experiences as banking executives, army officers, vets in Africa and activists. We went on compulsory hikes, played football in our compulsory PE classes and built solar-powered cars. It was quite a broad education- 18 months of our religious education was devoted to major world religions and we studied history and philosophy.
But there was no teaching on feminism, its history or current challenges. We were taught that we could do anything. We were not taught that some people would assume we couldn't do things because we were women. Or that doing some things would be harder for us because we are women. When I hit university, I was unprepared for sexism and had no working knowledge of feminism. This felt like a strange hole in my education, a crucial blind-spot.
I'm not sure that my 'feminist education' would have been better at a co-ed high school, but at least I wouldn't have been shielded from the casual sexism I have to negotiate in adult life.
The school's unofficial motto was, 'Girls can do anything!' And they did: alumni regularly came back to speak about their experiences as banking executives, army officers, vets in Africa and activists. We went on compulsory hikes, played football in our compulsory PE classes and built solar-powered cars. It was quite a broad education- 18 months of our religious education was devoted to major world religions and we studied history and philosophy.
But there was no teaching on feminism, its history or current challenges. We were taught that we could do anything. We were not taught that some people would assume we couldn't do things because we were women. Or that doing some things would be harder for us because we are women. When I hit university, I was unprepared for sexism and had no working knowledge of feminism. This felt like a strange hole in my education, a crucial blind-spot.
I'm not sure that my 'feminist education' would have been better at a co-ed high school, but at least I wouldn't have been shielded from the casual sexism I have to negotiate in adult life.
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