Four members of the Seahawk family attended the 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women as delegates from Girls Learn International, from March 2 – 8.
Biology teacher Kate Kahn and seniors Sachi Koulgi and Manali Sontakke, sponsor, president and secretary of GLI respectively, received the opportunity to travel to New York because of their involvement in GLI.
GLI members advocate for human rights, focusing on equal access to education for men and women. They have a partner school in New Delhi, India called Welcome Colony, for whom GLI members send care packages and raise money.
Every year, GLI members from chapters throughout the nation have the opportunity to go to New York to attend the CSW.
This year the theme of CSW focused on ending violence against women. During sessions, different organizations spoke about their efforts in other countries to end violence.
Kahn, Koulgi, and Sontakke experienced busy days running from one building to another in order to attend the sessions before the rooms filled up.
“One of my favorite sessions was the one about sexual harassment in schools because I found it very relevant to what I see and experience in this school,” Kahn said. “It put a light on what society finds acceptable, when it really isn’t. For example, calling someone or something gay, or saying ‘you throw like a girl’ as if girls throw in a way that is somehow inferior to men.”
During the Girls Tribunal session, Kahn, Koulgi, and Sontakke heard stories from girls about the problems they face within their societies or personal stories about sexual violence.
Listening to women sharing their personal experiences of sexual and domestic violence touched and inspired Sontakke.
“It was a completely new experience for me to discuss the topic of violence against women,” Sontakke said. “It was awesome that I got to learn about it from people who’ve dedicated their lives to combating it and it was definitely informative and just a really inspiring conference in general. It makes me want to really do something to combat the issue.”
Koulgi and Sontakke returned home with their heads overflowing with ideas to improve the club.
Koulgi plans to have an assembly with a guest speaker who will talk to the school and hopefully convince more students, especially boys, to join the club.
“We are going to try to bring more boys into the club because women’s issues are not just issues that women are facing,” Koulgi said. “They’re usually caused by attention drawn to masculinity by the media and boys are as much part of these issues as girls are because you can’t just have women leading a cause.”
GLI members believe it is important to educate everyone on the issues women face all around the world, including gender inequality, lack of education, and violence.
“We’re trying to get sexual and domestic violence education implemented into school systems because I’ve never seen anything like that [in the curriculum] and I think it’s really important for kids to learn about it,” Koulgi said. “We’re going to try and get that implemented, maybe into the advisory periods.”
In late May, GLI plans on hosting a Hunger Banquet to raise awareness for their cause and educate everyone on their experience in New York.
To learn more about the Commission on the Status of Women, click here.
(Junior Gargie Nagarkar is also a member of GLI and attended this event)
