St Mary’s YSI project on gender equality wins Dragons’ cash
A GROUP of teenage girls from the TY Class of St. Mary’s Secondary School Charleville who have undertaken a project focusing on women’s place in society has won a €400 grant from the Young Social Innovators ( YSI) Dragons Den judges for their proposal.
Their project began in September 2020 for their Young Social Innovators ( YSI) module and is entitled ‘Bettering Beours’. It is aimed at their peers of both sexes and intends to teach teenage girls about their options, biases and obstacles in society so they can make better informed choices and be more confident in themselves and their abilities, and also to teach teenage boys about the struggle girls face in society, and how they can contribute to alleviating that burden and working towards equality.
The word ‘ beours’ is a slang term used to refer to girls and women in general in this area of North Cork and South Limerick.
The girls’ plan includes the running of workshops in the school and community and producing content which highlights how misogyny is rampant in our society today. To fund this, the group requested €200 from the YSI Den.
The YSI Den is a panel of Dragons, or judges, that offers money, means or mentoring to successful YSI groups.
In their pitch to the dragons for money to further their project the students emphasised the role of education in correcting gender inequality in Ireland.
“We think education is a key component to improving the conditions of gender equality Ireland. It’s easier for people to change when they know what needs to change. The more educated a society becomes on social issues, the more those issues improve. Examples of this can be seen in the way mental health supports have bettered as societal attitudes change.”
The money awarded will be used to develop and edit software, to elevate their digital content.
The money would also be used to pay for stickers, badges and posters to spread information about the problems women face in Irish society, and pay to engage professional women to talk to the school community about girls’ options and the barriers they might face.
The group was successful in their efforts and received €400 from the YSI Dragons. This will be a huge help for the group.
The students in the team are Anna, Aoife, Laura, Rachel, Leah and Éimear. They have been working hard making presentations, designing logos, planning their workshops, creating their social media accounts, and much more.
The challenges have been many due to government guidelines necessary to prevent the spread of Covid-19 but the group has adapted well under the prevailing circumstances.
“We are creating all of our content independently as a grassroots organisation. As we research and discuss, we are consistently shocked by how far behind Ireland really is for gender equality.
“As students in an all-girls school, we are very tuned into sexism, both in everyday life and in society at large.”
Once schools reopen, the group will begin with their workshops and try to educate the students in the school first before rolling it out in the local area.
They will then prepare their project video for the Speak Out event in YSI. This will take place in March.