The culture of sexism in my high school led me to champion gender equality
“I do all of this because of my experience in high school where I saw young women’s voices become diminished.“
20-year-old Ilana writes about how a brave letter from girls in her school set her on a path to combating gender-based discrimination throughout college.
As I enter the second semester of my junior year at Vanderbilt University, I recognize how Title IX is all around me. My university’s campus has a Title IX office, and I have received numerous emails throughout the past two and a half years about sexual assaults and harassment that has occurred on my campus. The emails my peers and I receive are only the sexual assaults that have been reported to the university. Only 1 in 5 female college students report their assault. One of the reasons why victims may not report sexual assaults is because of a fear of retaliation.
This fear does not just start in college. I attended a specialized STEM high school in New York City. Behind the school’s prized collection of college acceptances and awards was a culture left untouched: a culture where young women were marginalized.
Title IX prohibits gender-based discrimination in any educational programs or school extracurriculars.
During an open house at my new school, I learned that the school was 66% male, but I did not realize how this statistic might play out daily. Yet, inside the narrow hallways and the overcrowded classes, I saw how the administration did not want to change the status quo.
During my freshman year, I realized that a hostile environment was cultivated by school culture and promoted by specific teachers.
While changing in the college’s gym locker room for physical education, I listened as some of the female students would speak about being graded more harshly than their male peers, and I witnessed how some of the teachers were more likely to call on the male students when they wanted the answer.
Yet, no one publicly acknowledged these occurrences. I learned that it was better to keep my head low and not make noise or else my reputation would be harmed. School became a day job, and I lost my excitement and love of learning.
Photo courtesy of Ilana Drake
When the pandemic hit and my high school turned to remote learning, I was grateful I did not have to be in person.
Instead of learning in cramped classrooms where desks had to be brought over from other classrooms, I was able to always have my own chair. I enjoyed the Zoom lessons and the lack of comments from male peers about female students in the classroom. I could focus on learning and not on the way my male peers perceived me and other female students. The “raise hand” button and chat features on Zoom felt less worrisome than speaking in class.
Less than a month after my high school introduced remote learning, the senior girls shared a letter with the entire student body that they had sent to the administration highlighting the misogynistic culture in the school.
Issues raised included accounts with personalized usernames that targeted female students on sexually explicit websites, and noting how female students’ accomplishments were diminished due to their gender and how they were objectified by male students.
Yet, given their fear of retaliation, the senior girls only shared the letter after the college process was completed and college acceptances had been released.
“The culture of saying “boys will be boys,” is part of this underlying issue. Many times, “the line” is a high threshold, but the “small things,” like the jokes, comments, and gestures can harm female students and impact their views of school and themselves.”
The senior girls sent the letter to the administration, but the administration did not publicly acknowledge any wrongdoing or implement any processes that would enact meaningful change. The onus was on the girls who were the victims.
According to a report by American Association of University Women’s titled “Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School, “nearly half of the students surveyed experienced some form of sexual harassment in the 2010–11 school year, and the majority of those students (87 percent) said it had a negative effect on them.”
While this study occurred ten years before the letter exposing the harm the four years of high school had on the female students, I wondered if there could ever be reparations for the female students who dealt with the unjust and harmful environment throughout high school.
Title IX was signed in 1972 in the United States providing female students with equal access to opportunities, many young women share the same experiences as me and my high school peers. The culture of saying “boys will be boys,” is part of this underlying issue. Many times, “the line” is a high threshold, but the “small things,” like the jokes, comments, and gestures can harm female students and impact their views of school and themselves.
As I think about the courage of the senior girls, I also recognize how it is important to ensure that policies and environmental changes are directly implemented.
“I hope that no young woman will fear retaliation or harm to her reputation for speaking out. I also want to ensure that every young woman’s voice is heard and not muted. ”
While my high school had a Girls Empowerment Movement, this “movement” typically consisted of a free lunch for girls and a speaker from the parent body. Many of my peers came to eat the catered lunch but did not take away any real learnings or concrete ways to take action within our community.
If we move on to another institution and leave a space that needs reform behind, we may not think about the other young women who will endure the issues.
My high school experience has made a profound impact on the person I am today and the person I aspire to be. I recognize that my voice can be used to implement change, and, as a result, I decided to study public policy studies and English to work at the intersection of policy and advocacy.
I am a Global Goals Ambassador for Sustainable Development Goal (Reduced Inequalities), I mentor in Girls Write Now, a national writing program for young women and gender-expansive young adults and serve on the YR Media National Youth Advisory Board where I help create programming and tools for young people’s education.
I do all of this because of my experience in high school where I saw young women’s voices become diminished.
In the future, I hope that no young woman will fear retaliation or harm to her reputation for speaking out. I also want to ensure that every young woman’s voice is heard and not muted.
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