In October, senior Maryhelen Prince, juniors Lizzie Hackett and Ava Ohlman and sophomore Amara Grajewski created the Women Up club.
“The reason I decided to start this is because I realized how much of an impact the older women in my life have had,” Prince said.
Women Up meets every other Wednesday morning in room 2103. They focus on relationships between women. They view these to be fundamental to each other’s growth.
“I had a lot of guidance from [older women] that morphed me into the person I am, what I believe, who I believe other people are and how I view society and the world,” Prince said.
In the last month, they have discussed topics such as stigmas, stereotypes and unity.
One such stigma discussed was the “men hating” label often placed on feminist groups.
“I think just because it’s called a Women Up club, doesn’t mean it’s a men down club at all,” Prince said, “It’s like, by saying “black lives matter” that doesn’t mean white lives matter even less. It’s saying that they matter too, and that’s what we’re trying to say. We matter too.”
Although it’s only been a few months, the Women Up club has already received backlash such as provocative social media accounts under names such as “women down club” and “men up club.”
However, in the face of these naysayers and adversaries, the Women Up club continues to keep a level head and focusing on the difference they’re already making.
“The reason why [we] do this is because [we] have girls coming up [to us] throughout the day and telling [us] how good our meeting made them feel,” Grajewski said.
As for the future, the club wants to maintain and further what they are doing right now.
“Our long-term goals are to change the female relationships of Northview. I think we do have a lot of good female uplifting relationships, and we do have a lot of female teachers who are trying to inspire that, but I think it does need a jumpstart from young people and I think the more young girls see women taking charge, that will inspire them to do that in their own lives,” Prince said.
As they continue to gain traction, they hope to host future events such as self-defense classes and a women’s awareness meeting for men. Starting December 4, they are also doing a period product drive.
For now, however, they are taking things slowly.
“I think this year for us is all about getting off the ground and finding our footing and finding where we belong,” Prince said, “I’ve never started a club from the ground up before. So, it’s a lot of ‘would this work, would this work, maybe we can try this.’”
Follow their Instagram page for updates on future meetings.
