Assignment #21 - Irene Kim - HeForShe!

I write this blog post at the risk of sounding like a huge know-it-all, but I’m just gonna hope you can see the genuinity in it. Our community, along with most all communities in the world, has a significant gender inequality problem. The most frequently talked about issues—wage gaps between men and women working the same jobs, unequal treatment or harassment of women in the workplace—take up most media space and public attention. The word “feminism” itself holds a somewhat negative connotation—most opponents of the concept imagine a wild, ravaged group of all female activists demanding rights for women. But the concept itself, by definition, means “the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes.” Gender equality means advancing women’s roles to equalize them with men’s rights; not to sacrifice them. It also means men should feel free to be vulnerable and take on different roles than society might have determined. UN Women founded a campaign in 2014 called HeForShe, which reaches out to all sexes to commit to gender equality, particularly men who define themselves as being apart from the “feminist” community. 

Even in schools and at Henry Clay, we partake in gender inequality unconsciously. Little things like saying “man up” or “you throw like a girl” are adding to stereotypical gender roles. I did it a lot, too, before I knew the significance of what I was saying. We say “mankind” instead of “humankind” and “manpower” instead of “workforce.” It’s a lot of cumulative things that I add to a greater bias against certain genders or roles. Derogatory terms towards women or the LGBTQ+ community are numerous in schools; even in private conversations, it counts! HeForShe stands for everything against gender stereotypes, equal treatment of all genders, sexualities, and eliminating the stereotype of “feminism.” It really isn’t the word that matters! I’m hoping to recount this problem in HC by starting a HeForShe club based off of the UN campaign. Hannah and I are co-leading with a great team and I hope we can make some achievements for the campaign! (P.S. if you’re interested, our remind is @hcheforshe :))