Bold Voices

“I truly believe we’ve started a shift in attitudes. It doesn’t mean that students didn’t want to change, but we provided a voice and model to show them they can speak out and they aren’t alone.”

At Bold Voices, our mission is to give school communities the knowledge, tools and space to come together to challenge sexism, misogyny and a culture of gender-based violence. That’s why we created the Ambassador Programme, a year-long virtual course in which participating pupils, staff and parents are given the opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge about gender inequality, space to come together to have productive conversations about genderbased violence, and the skills and confidence needed to run pupilled projects which challenge gender inequality in their own communities.

The foundational learning at the core of the programme is to recognise that all the ways in which gender inequality shows up in the world are connected and sit within a culture where issues like misogyny and sexism are trivialised, normalised and accepted; a culture of genderbased violence and gender inequality. The Bold Voices Programme empowers pupils to recognise that, within this culture, they have more agency than they realise to make real change, starting with issues like sexist language, banter or harmful attitudes in their own schools. We’ve seen pupils’ projects take this understanding and lead incredible projects ranging from hosting a gender neutral sports day, to surveying the whole school on sexism, to presenting assemblies to younger years. www.boldvoices.co.uk

The programme is designed to meet three primary goals: Inspire student voices to lead creative and engaging projects which tackle sexism and misogyny in schools. Establish a nationwide community to create tangible, sustainable change.

Provide space for students, staff and parents to connect with other schools and begin a ripple of change throughout the education sector.

The programme’s second cohort has just finished, with 100% of students agreeing that they would recommend the Ambassador Programme to another school. Bold Voices are an award-winning social enterprise bringing school communities together to learn, discuss and tackle gender inequality and gender-based violence. Whether you’re a parent, staff member or pupil, we are here to support you in fighting for an education free from gender inequality and gender-based violence for the next generation.

TURN BACK TO PAGES 44-45 to read about the talk on porn and sex education at St Dunstan’s College