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FIGHTING FOR GENDER JUSTICE

Girls of Color Assert Their Voices

– Kate McDonough and Christina Powell –
Girls for Gender Equity, New York City

The experiences of black and brown girls as victims of school pushout and discrimination based on race, gender, and sexuality are often hidden. Kate McDonough and Christina Powell talk about the Schools Girls Deserve campaign, which involved one hundred girls in naming institutionalized racism and sexism within their school system and offering their own solutions to school pushout. The authors give examples of the kinds of discrimination that girls and gender-nonconforming people like themselves face in schools and call for practices that are fully inclusive to young people of all gender identities. The authors also discuss how young people of all gender identities can grow into critically minded and empowered leaders in their communities.

KATE’S STORY

As someone who identifies as trans and has a nonbinary gender identity, I was first drawn to organizing for gender justice because of how important it is for me personally. When I was in kindergarten, teachers had a hard time understanding and accepting the way that I expressed my gender. To them, I was not feminine enough. They would constantly talk to my parents about it instead of about how well I was doing at school. It was always “Well, no one can tell Kate’s gender. If you’re not careful, Kate’s going to grow up to become a lesbian. We think Kate has some kind of gender confusion.” If any young person picked on me, it was always framed as my fault, not something the teacher should deal with to make the class more accepting of me.

I was constantly chased out of bathrooms by my peers. I never got support from my teachers, so it reached the point where I absolutely hated going to school. Being there made me feel ill, and sometimes I faked being sick in the middle of the day so I could leave. Thankfully, I had the opportunity to transfer to a different elementary school where I was more accepted and began to thrive.

I grew up in the Bronx, and I was one of few white kids in my class at school. Even though my kindergarten teachers saw me as this weirdo, they also still saw me as smart—so smart that they even wanted me to skip a grade. It wasn’t the same for some of my peers of color who are gender-nonconforming. I recognize how systems of oppression work and how, in many ways, being white saved me from being pushed out. If you’re white, you can still be weird and smart.

What I love about Girls for Gender Equity (GGE) is how intentional we are about identifying and calling out institutionalized racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. We make sure that those who are the most marginalized and most impacted are at the center of our work and are driving it.

GGE has taught me a lot about what accountability in action should look like. There are moments when, as an adult staff member, I’m in spaces where our young people can’t be, such as a meeting in Albany during school hours. I have to be accountable to advocate for what girls have said they want. I have to show up in solidarity. So when folks are being sexist and racist in their policy making, I can’t be afraid to call that out and push for what our young people want. GGE has made me much more unapologetic in these spaces, where in the past I’ve maybe played it a little safe or tried to be more diplomatic. GGE has helped me become a little bit more radical.

At the same time, I’ve learned how important it is to lead with love. I love our young people so much, and I love people in the communities that we’re in. The more I’m in a place of love and creating loving environments, the more centered I am, even in the toughest of times.

CHRISTINA’S STORY

I attend a very diverse high school in Brooklyn. There are Muslims, Caucasian people, and African Americans. But girls of color have a serious problem of pushout at our school, like at many others.

Girls mostly get pushed out because of their race. Girls’ clothing is an issue, like when they’re told that their style is “ghetto.” Girls of color might be labeled as ghetto because of the way they act. Others may perceive them as ghetto because of the way they dress, their sense of their body, and how they speak.

When a teacher labels a student “ghetto,” it is discrimination based on (1) the student being a woman, (2) the student’s race, and (3) a teacher’s perception of who the student is. Teachers will say things like “This student doesn’t speak properly,” or “Her clothes are inappropriate.” Such statements are code for racism.

This labeling is also sexist: a woman can’t wear a skirt because she’s told it is inappropriate, but a guy can walk around with a “wife-beater” shirt and nobody says anything. Girls of color get harassed about their appearance and end up getting pushed out of school because of that.

For example, my friend came to school wearing boots and a sweater with graffiti writing on it. The teachers said it was inappropriate and made her take off her sweater. But a guy came in with a sweater that talked about gangs and guns, and they didn’t tell him to take it off. It was unfair.

In our school, our principal keeps pushing us to wear uniforms, because, he said, our uniform represents our school. But I have my own sense of style. I don’t want to be somebody that I’m not. It’s just not right.

We formed a group in GGE called Sisters in Strength to support one another and push for change. We launched the Schools Girls Deserve campaign, in which we talked about school pushout. We created posters, and we made a replica of a metal detector so that people will understand what kids go through as they try to get an education. We also called for gender-neutral bathrooms for people who are uncomfortable identifying their gender, as well as better food, better activities, more clubs, and just more understanding of people.

In GGE we discuss social justice issues that affect the world and society and how we can change it. For example, we learn about educational justice, what it is, and how it affects children. We look for better outcomes. We organize events like the Schools Girls Deserve campaign to spread the message about what children in school go through and how their lives may change if their education is stopped for some reason. Participating in these events gives me more experience and knowledge about how these social justice issues affect society and how we can try to change it.

I think it’s important for girls and students of all gender identities to be involved when education decisions are made. Everyone should talk about what’s going on in their schools, what’s similar and what’s different, and how they can create better conditions where students feel like they aren’t harassed, discriminated against, or racially profiled. We should have events or create clubs for teenagers to speak their minds and opinions on what’s going on in school and how they want to fight for a better education.

Before Sisters in Strength, I was just a typical teenager who didn’t know about social justice issues. Sisters in Strength made me a better person, one who is more knowledgeable and ready to stand up against injustice. As an active member of the group, I learn information that I share with my friends and fellow students and that makes them more aware and more involved as well.

FIGHTING FOR GENDER JUSTICE, BY KATE AND CHRISTINA

GGE is an intergenerational grassroots organization based in Brooklyn, but we work throughout New York City and also at the state and national level. The mission of GGE is to ensure, through organizing and education, that girls and women—including trans young women and gender-nonconforming people—can live self-determined lives. We run the Sisters in Strength youth organizing program, of which Christina is a part, which is a two-year paid internship for high school-age young women of color where they learn about social justice and engage in campaign work, with a focus on how girls of color are pushed out of school.

Sexist and racist perceptions of young women of color lead to their being disciplined for what they wear, how people perceive the way they speak, or how they show up in school. Young people are also critical of the curriculum. Many girls say they do not see themselves in the curriculum. They don’t see women of color or learn anything about their histories. Trans women don’t even exist in the curriculum, or if they do see themselves, it’s usually from a negative perspective.

Concerns about policing and school metal detectors are a constant. One young woman missed her first-period class when she was stopped because the pins in her hair were making the scanner go off. She was told, “Either you get in trouble or you take out your pins and mess up your hair.” It’s a racist and sexist way of disciplining young people; having your hair wrapped with pins isn’t something that white girls do. She refused to take out the pins, so she missed her class and got in trouble for it.

Sexual harassment is totally normalized. When young women are being harassed, they often don’t report it, because they feel like nothing will happen. The school doesn’t know how to respond to it. This also can lead to pushout, because sometimes girls are being sexually harassed to the point that they fight back, and then they get in trouble for that. This is how institutionalized violence and the big issues of racism and sexism become cemented into everyday interactions in school.

GGE did a participatory action research project on sexual harassment in schools where girls in the group asked other students about their experiences. We found that when young people responded to harassment by standing up and fighting back, they tended to be the ones getting punished. The school looks at what’s happening as the root cause instead of seeing it as a symptom of a bigger issue.

The Schools Girls Deserve

We captured the ways in which girls, transgender, and gender-nonconforming youth of color are pushed out of school and the vision of the school they deserve in our report called The Schools Girls Deserve.¹ We included over one hundred New York City girls and gender-nonconforming youth of color in the participatory-action research project that informed the report.

As part of our Schools Girls Deserve campaign, we created an activity where folks walk through two different kinds of schools. In the “pushout school,” participants have to walk through metal detectors to experience how it feels for students who face this indignity every day. In the school that girls want and deserve, there is a curriculum that includes women of color, where girls can see themselves. In this curriculum they can learn about their own history and culture instead of hearing the typical Eurocentric, colonialist perspective. This kind of curriculum gives girls of color a sense of power and agency in their lives.

We have also pushed for culturally competent sex education that includes the needs of LGBTQ students. Our curriculum talks about relationships, power, and privilege and allows for young people to think through their identities. We also advocate for sex education that addresses sexual harassment and consent.

We have more police officers in our schools than we do guidance counselors and social workers. So we have also campaigned for more teachers and support staff and folks who understand the lives of girls of color and gender-nonconforming students. We need to look at how teachers of color are also pushed out of school.

We are also making demands for basic resources, such as clean drinking water. Many of our young people talked about how they can’t drink from the water fountains because of lead contamination. They also talk about their desire to have a healthy or halal lunch.

Making a Difference for Girls

GGE has had several key accomplishments. In the past, school pushout tended to be framed as something that affected only young men of color. We’ve highlighted how school pushout is both a gender justice and racial justice issue. Ensuring that our young women have the opportunity to speak truth to their experiences is a major win.

Another accomplishment is the leadership growth of our young people. These young women now say, “This is not okay,” and, “I know what I want and need and deserve” That’s a major success.

Looking at educational justice through a gender justice lens is essential. When we do that, we see issues around sexism in the dress code, the normalization of sexual harassment in schools, and the lack of culturally responsive curriculum in which women are included.

In our own educational justice movements, we need to examine how we may unintentionally recreate the oppressive structure that we’re trying to tear down. For example, to provide a safe space for trans young people, we need to do more than learn people’s personal pronouns and use them; we also need to make sure there are gender-neutral bathrooms available. How do we make sure our own gatherings reflect the schools and communities we are fighting for?

Young people especially want to claim their gender identity for themselves and be recognized with appropriate pronouns. That could be the typical he/him/his or she/her/hers, but it can also be nonbinary like they/them/theirs or in other ways. Pronouns are important because it shows who people are. Pronouns are about identity. We teach people that it’s important to ask what pronouns other people prefer, and use those pronouns. Doing so shows that you respect who they are and that you care about and support them. This kind of culture change can be hard, especially for many older folks, but we believe it is crucially important to creating an inclusive movement.

Public education does not need to be bankrupt or oppressive. We can create good, wonderful public schools for young women of color and gender-nonconforming youth of color. It’s just a matter of prioritizing.

We need to trust girls and gender-nonconforming youth to be experts in their own experiences and to know what they need. Then it’s the job of adults to partner with young people to help meet those needs and make our shared visions a reality.