GENDER EQUITY
Our gender-inclusive approach to equity
We cultivate allies among boys & men:
As far as we’ve come towards gender equity, we know that progress can stall when women are its only advocates and men position themselves as removed from the cause, or worse, antagonistic to it. In our communities, most boys and men have drawn the conclusion that gender equity is a euphemism for leaving them behind. By serving girls and boys in equal numbers, we can uplift girls and boys as allies in the fight to end generational poverty and promote equal opportunity.
We proactively teach gender equity to both girls & boys:
Our mentoring program proactively promotes a culture of gender equality by cultivating mutual respect and empathy across genders and by addressing head-on the gender dynamics that perpetuate disparity. This includes interactive lessons for boys and girls focused on how to address gender bias at home, school and work, how to cultivate healthy and avoid unhealthy relationships, the meaning and importance of consent, sexual harassment prevention, and reproductive health, including how to prevent teen pregnancy.
We address the gender-specific needs of girls:
We design our programs through a gender lens to address the unique challenges our girls face. For example, to ensure our girls are not overburdened by chores at home we enroll our students in boarding school, and to ensure our girls have strong role models we pair our female students with female mentors. Should a student become a parent, we continue to support their education. These, and other aspects of our programs, help ensure our female students achieve success on an even playing field with their male counterparts.