From Apathy to Activism
Engaging
the
Younger Generation
in the
Equity
By
Allison
Dziuba & Amrita Sankar
The Issue:
Girls
today are unaware of priority issues for women.
What
appears to be apathy among most K-12 girls is really a lack of exposure and
awareness to 
gender issues in women’s history, status, activism or legislation.
This
is a plea to women and girl leaders to reach out to this generation of girls in
your community to advance equity.
The Proposal:
“Girl-friendly”
education is the gateway to awareness and understanding of the issues as well
as to activism for equity.
As
a catalyst for inter-generational dialogue, here is a sample of “girl-friendly”
educational tools including the P-2-P
power-point workshop.
These
tools will help initiate “equity” dialogue with girls.
Take Action For
Equity
The goal of P-2-P is to help
girls develop a greater understanding and new-found passion for women’s issues.
It offers concrete strategies
and opportunities to accomplish AAUW’s priorities by addressing the challenge
of girls’ apathy towards public policy issues.
Showcases strategies for addressing challenges in
equity education for girls, emphasizing ways activists can use their resources
and leadership skills to accomplish AAUW issue priorities
Encourages private
inter-generational conversations on priority issues at home
Right to Vote ERA Roe vs. Wade Title IX Domestic
Violence
P-2-P (Personal-to-Political and
Political-to-Personal) Workshop
Facilitates Inter-Generational Dialogue
This PowerPoint presentation:
Starts with provocative quotations from today’s leaders that emphasize that equity is still an issue.
Lays to rest the myth among the younger generation that men and women have equal rights in the
Offers girls the chance to role play a few hypothetical cases of gender discrimination that a teen might face in everyday life, and what they would do.
Follows with a crash course on priority issues faced by women today. The girls are also asked what they are going to do about them.
Marches down women’s history over the last 300 years, emphasizing that each legislative achievement was hard fought for by women.
Highlights the right to vote, ERA, and Title IX to show how the personal became political.
Gets the girls involved in role playing about a hypothetical biased university. The close connection between the political to the personal is brought home to them.
Having established that silence is not an option, the audience engages in a guided discussion on future action.
A Branch
“Must-Do” Program
Uniquely
AAUW
As a committed, concerned organization, dedicated to promoting education and equity for women and girls, AAUW leads the fight for equity in your hometowns. This workshop offers a unique opportunity for carrying out AAUW’s mission. The presentation will meet the specific operational needs of AAUW's volunteer leaders.
Value to AAUW branch leaders:
· A great tool to reach out and collaborate with girls’ organizations (Girl Scouts, National Charity League, Big-Brothers-Big Sisters, etc)
· Program attracts and draws in a unique women’s audience of mother, teachers and leaders of girls to your branch’s program to engage in dialogue on equity issues
· Your AAUW branch once again becomes the catalyst in your community for advancing equity.
· We offer tools and suggestions to build strong partnerships with girls’ organizations
· You find the girl presenter, and we provide you with a girl friendly presentation. Ready to use PowerPoint presentation of P-2-P Workshop
· Entire program templated and available digitally (from publicity fliers to evaluation forms):
Word
Women’s Legal History Timeline
Activity #1- Stickers on Issues
Activity #2- Poster Guidelines
Girl Scout Interest Patch Requirements
Power-point
Sample Poster
"Please contact us as political2personal@yahoo.com to tell us about your questions, comments, concerns. Thank you!"