The topic of this Girl Talk was “Raising a Feminist Generation” our aim
was to equip adolescent girls with information on how to dismantle the
Patriarchy and make their daily lives become more Feminist. Our goal
was to host the Girl Talk before schools opened; the reason for this was
because the majority of sexual assault and abuse often happens in
school. We wanted the girls who attended the workshop to be able to
recognize abuse and have the right information on how to report. We
had 30 girls in attendance from the ages of 11-19.
Each girl had to share something personal about themselves and
receive encouraging feedback from the rest of the girls. The girls
opened up about being victims of child marriages, property grabbing
and Misogyny. While some shared stories about heartbreak, love and
their education success. When this was done we gave a brief lesson on
Feminism and then separated the girls into three workshops, one on
Misogyny and Gender roles, the second on Rape Culture and the last on
one Mental health.
Two of the classes were taught by the ambassadors. We had had
meetings before the 16th to create lesson plans on how the classes
were going to be conducted and which ambassador would be best
suited to teach a topic. Each class took 20 minutes. We reconvened and
every group had to demonstrate what they had learnt. The first class
shared through a play on the ways girls experience Misogyny in classes
and how they can speak up for themselves and report teachers who
discriminate against them. The second class gave a talk on rape culture
and shared myths on rape and information on who to report to. The
last class shared a play on the types of bullying girls experience and
how it affects their mental health. They ended it off with a talk on
ablest language and how to be kind to people who suffer with their
mental health. The ambassadors Chanda and Tendai ended the session
by encouraging the girls to continue being Feminist, to stay in school
and be good girls. In the end we asked the girls how beneficial the
classes were and they all agreed that they learnt a lot and hoped we
could return soon.
By Ann Holland
GT Coordinator, Zambia
