Kalani High School freshmen advocate for gender equality

They found that in the workplace, women were getting paid less and being promoted less than their male peers. In the classroom, they experienced teachers asking boys to help carry things but not putting out the request to everyone.

These are just a few of the gender inequalities that a group of Kalani High School freshmen were realizing when they began their spring semester project for their combined English, Social Studies and Biology class.

The 9^th grade students CJ, Ella, Maria and Senna found that lack of education leads to discrimination by gender. “We have all faced some sort of discrimination because of our gender in our lives and we wanted to prevent others from experiencing this,” said Ella. To tackle that problem, they have an ambitious goal of creating a curriculum that they aim to get taught in public schools statewide with a focus on 5^th and 6^th grade students. They are creating the framework for teachers to apply and have also created a plan to collect data by surveying students pre-curriculum and post-curriculum to gauge their base, create benchmarks of success and adjust goals to keep moving the forward. 

Ultimately, they are leading the change to educate students on gender inequality in the classroom and workplace and a plan to prevent it.

CPB executives serve as mentors

As part of the spring project, their teachers Jan Omura, Racer Moody and Cayla Pang required all groups to select an adult mentor. They connected with Keith Amemiya, CPB Foundation’s newly appointed Executive Director, because they were aligned with his progressive stance on gender equality brought up during his 2020 mayoral campaign.

“These students are amazingly talented and inspirational,” said Amemiya. “I’m so impressed with their confidence, engagement and motivation. Clearly, they have the potential to be Hawaii’s next community and business leaders.” 

Amemiya has been spending several hours a week with the group to support their project and will continue to be a resource for the students.

CPB President Catherine Ngo also spent the day with the students for a behind-the scenes tour of the bank. She provided leadership insight and shared her career paths in law and banking.

Gender equality education

We can all help to promote gender equality. Here are just a few suggestions from the group: 

• Acknowledging that there are more than the two main genders
• Respecting a person’s preferred pronouns
• Not making assumptions about one’s gender

“CJ, Ella, Maria and Senna exemplify what it means to be allies and leaders of the LGBT community," shared Pang. “Their passion for social justice activism at such a young age is incredibly admirable.”

For additional resources, click here to visit the Hawaii State Commission on Status of Women, a statewide feminist government agency the works toward equality for women and girls in the State by acting as a catalyst for positive change through advocacy, education, collaboration and program development. Readers may also support their project by signing their petition here.