Women in Leadership and Learning 2014-2015
Women in Leadership and Learning is a feminist leadership development group open to anyone who identifies with women or as women in any way. It is a close community consisting of people in very different stages of their feminist journeys. WILL has been one of the most significant and important experiences I've ever had. I've never met such an amazing community of supportive, understanding, and strong people.
I chose to participate in Women in Leadership and Learning to supplement my feminist education through my major. It is always a powerful experience to be surrounded by people with different backgrounds and opinions, but ultimately the same goal - to better ourselves and our community through feminist leadership development and education. I was expecting WILL to be more similar to a classroom experience, but I was very excited to learn that the education would be coming from my fellow participants, with the guidance of a facilitator or two each meeting.
This was a very meaningful experience to me. Coming out of a liberal arts high school education in Columbus (read more about Mosaic by following a link on the home page), I was very surprised by how conservative people seemed to be in Cincinnati. I often found myself in situations where I felt unsafe because people around me were quick to express their often racist or misogynistic opinions. This led to a lot of frustration, and I eventually decided that I needed to intentionally put myself in feminist spaces, where my sociocultural identity would be recognized and respected. Joining WILL was the first step in a journey that I plan on continuing for the rest of my life -- a journey of social justice education, both of myself and people around me.
Finally, as a second artifact, I would like to include a piece I wrote for the News Record in the fall in response to Emma Watson's HeForShe speech. You can find it about halfway down the page, below the first half written by someone else. Being in WILL helped give me the confidence to put my thoughts out into the world, even if it was an opinion that not many people agree with.
I chose to participate in Women in Leadership and Learning to supplement my feminist education through my major. It is always a powerful experience to be surrounded by people with different backgrounds and opinions, but ultimately the same goal - to better ourselves and our community through feminist leadership development and education. I was expecting WILL to be more similar to a classroom experience, but I was very excited to learn that the education would be coming from my fellow participants, with the guidance of a facilitator or two each meeting.
This was a very meaningful experience to me. Coming out of a liberal arts high school education in Columbus (read more about Mosaic by following a link on the home page), I was very surprised by how conservative people seemed to be in Cincinnati. I often found myself in situations where I felt unsafe because people around me were quick to express their often racist or misogynistic opinions. This led to a lot of frustration, and I eventually decided that I needed to intentionally put myself in feminist spaces, where my sociocultural identity would be recognized and respected. Joining WILL was the first step in a journey that I plan on continuing for the rest of my life -- a journey of social justice education, both of myself and people around me.
Finally, as a second artifact, I would like to include a piece I wrote for the News Record in the fall in response to Emma Watson's HeForShe speech. You can find it about halfway down the page, below the first half written by someone else. Being in WILL helped give me the confidence to put my thoughts out into the world, even if it was an opinion that not many people agree with.