By Kim Hilsenbeck.
When Smart Janes get together at Hays High School, it’s not to discuss books or history – even if the name implies a group of intelligent girls hanging out. This small but mighty group of feminists, instead, uses the time to talk about female empowerment.
“I feel like people think it’s all ‘go girls’ and we put boys down but we don’t,” sophomore Emily Berger said. “We want to empower girls.”
English teacher Gina Risher is the club’s faculty sponsor. She said former student Victoria Volker was interested in gender studies so she started this feminist club – Smart Janes. Victoria is now at Wellesley University.
Caragh Givens, Emily Berger and Sabrina Smith of Hays High’s ‘Smart Janes’ club at their weekly meeting. The club wants to empower girls – and boys – about gender roles and feeling powerful. Each year they do Operation Beautiful, writing positive messages on sticky notes and posting them around the school. (Photos by Kim Hilsenbeck) |
“She was noticing inequalities in her life and wondered if others noticed them, too,” Risher said of Volker. “She wanted to help girls realize their power and that they should be equal. They should feel good about themselves and be strong.”
Risher explained a bit more about the club.
“Through the last few years we’ve done some really neat things,” she said. “We focus on positive self-image.”
One female speaker talked with the club about her experiences with domestic abuse. Another speaker, a lawyer, talked with the girls about aiming high in life.
The club also does Project Beauty where they write positive message, such as ‘You are beautiful’, on sticky notes, then place them all around the school. Those messages have to first be approved by the school’s principal, David Pierce. Risher said none have ever been rejected.
Most recently, the Janes did a Valentine’s Day gift drive where they collected items to donate to the Hays Caldwell Women’s Center, a place where women, and sometimes men, go when they are in abusive situations and need help.
“We made Valentine’s Day gift bags,” Emily said.
Risher explained that they asked for items such as gift cards, lotions and bath products, and other specialty gifts.
“We wanted to make them feel loved again,” she said.
The misnomer about the club’s name is that boys can join, too – in fact, Smart Janes encourages them to get involved.
One of Risher’s former students was in the room waiting to talk with her. He said when he hears the term Smart Janes, he thinks of a group of intelligent people.
“Plus it sounds more feminine,” he said.
In past years, Smart Janes had more members, but its numbers are dwindling, according to Risher. The girls lamented about not having more fellow Smart Janes of both genders, noting they could do a lot more projects if they had more people.
“It’s hard to have a structure when everyone who has the ideas are also the only people in the club,” Emily said.
The Janes would like more students of the male variety to get involved.
“Guys could think of things we could do for guys,” junior Sabrina Smith said. “They could give us their opinion, too.”
What message would work for male students to encourage them to join the Janes?
“It’s for everyone, like, we’re just making it known that everyone should be like treated like human beings and like we could maybe do some teen empowerment,” Sabrina said. “I know of lot of teenage guys have bad body image, too.”
Risher suggested they “could talk about what it means to, quote, be a man today.”
She said gender roles may be shifting within American society.
Sophomore Caragh Givens said, “I feel the stereotypical being a man is always being tough and no emotions and the real men are the buff ones.”
“I think it’s awesome when guys have emotions,” Emily added.
But high school boys have reputations to protect, don’t they?
Risher said Smart Janes could be a way to “Get people to think about roles and reputations and what they want for the future.”
When people ask the girls what Smart Janes is all about, Sabrina said she tells them, “We have a lot of fun, like, it’s not just about teaching. We don’t do things that are boring, which makes it better. Like the reason I joined was…I really liked the fact that it was like about empowerment and feminism.”
What is feminism?
“It’s everybody equal across the board,” Sabrina said.
Do you feel good about yourself?
“I think I do, yeah. Every once in a while, boys will say ‘Oh you can’t do that, you’re a girl. I think they’re kind of joking,” Emily said.
Do the girls find any of those same those attitudes outside of school?
To some extent, yes, though two of them tried to attribute the behavior to the adage ‘that’s just how boys are.’
Right now the group is working on expanding the group.
Sabrina said, “All of the guys I’ve talked to have been like, Oh, it’s an all girl’s club.”
“They probably do think it’s more of a girls club,” Emily said. “Even if guys join they won’t just get to interact with girls, we can talk about guy stuff, too. You might end up helping someone else.”
Smart Janes meets every Thursday from 4-5 p.m.
