ISSJG – Women’s Liberation Week
From bitesize interviews with powerful women, a women’s liberation creative showcase to temporary house name change activity, Island School’s Social Justice Group (ISSJG) organised events to celebrate the historical significance of the Women’s Liberation Movement during the Women’s Liberation Week took place between April 12-16.
This year the ISSJ team is honoured to have the opportunity to interview Samantha Mei Topp, Mia Kang, Mariko Hill, Rainlily centre, company LUÜNA Naturals, Spill Stories and Jill Von Dae – all inspiring females working in male dominated fields, or companies advocating for feminism by creating safe platforms for females.
In “Herstories: The Women’s Liberation Creative Showcase”, the group invited students to share their views on women’s liberation through creative media and the arts, at the same time provide them with an opportunity to express their own views on femininity and womanhood. Entries received from the activity ranging from poetry to music performance.
Airi Tachino from 10D, one of the participants,recalled, “I submitted a poem for the Herstories showcase, a poem portraying a woman’s true beauty – her strength and her power as a warrior, not a mere person. When I was writing it, I felt frustrated – words couldn’t even come close to fully describing what some women experience on a daily basis. But I hope that I’ve captured some of the main emotions that I’ve been wanting to illustrate here.”
The group also held a house name changes event during the week, from 12-16 April, Island School’s House names were renamed in honour of notable women from around the world. A total of 470 responses have been received and the name of the Houses were temporary changed from Da Vinci, Einstein, Fleming, Nasen, Rutherford, and Wilberforce, to Marie Daly, Gertrude Elion, Rosalind Franklin, Florence Nightingale, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Chien-Shiung Wu respectively.
ISSJG leader Taylor Chen (12E) said, “The week was full of activities that aimed to bring the idea of empowering women to the forefront of our minds. I feel that they – especially the ‘Bitesize Interviews’ – really encouraged people to learn about the issues women face, building empathy to take action through events across the week such as the Creative Showcase. I hope this week acts as just a starting point for our community to continue celebrating women.”
The ISSJG will have more events to raise awareness about various other global issues in the future.
Click here to read the interview stories and article in full.
Article by Sophie Luk, Media Team
