The Karen Spiller FELLOWSHIP As recipient of the inaugural Karen Spiller Fellowship, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity and gift of time, resources, and support to devote to a project for which I feel such passion. In recent decades, women in Australia have made significant strides towards equality with men. At universities, in workplaces, in boardrooms and in government, a growing number of women have taken on leadership roles, forging pathways for other women and girls to follow… Despite this progress, women and girls continue to experience inequality and discrimination in many important parts of their lives, which can limit the choices and opportunities available to them. (Australian Human Right Commission, 2018) The statistics on sexual harassment, gendered violence and general societal inequity are staggering. As educators of girls, I believe we have a collective responsibility to do something about this. In applying for the Fellowship, I saw my opportunity to be proactive in attempting to address the culture that allows abuse and violence against women to occur in its many forms. The aim of this project is to provide an evidence-based framework on which to
create a contextually and age-appropriate Girls’ Empowerment Program to be delivered school wide. To this end, I am investigating and evaluating current programs offered to girls and young women around the world. Additionally, I will interview past and present students to gain their perspectives on what support, education and skills they would see as valuable; and explore opportunities for mentoring and training in empowerment self-defence. Along with academics, music and sport, we teach things such as water-survival skills and social and emotional learning; however, I don’t think we can say we are fully preparing girls for the world in which they live unless we also explicitly teach empowerment. Society often gives lip service to women’s rights. We tell girls they can be anything, do anything and that they have rights, but we need to do better at giving them the competencies and skills to back those rights. We need to not just give them permission, but also give them power. I would love to hear from St Aidan’s Old Girls who would like to contribute their stories and ideas to this project. Please contact me at d.koh@staidans.qld.edu.au
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