Global Citizenship Campaign for March
The following post was written by聽members of the .
鈥淲e cannot all succeed when half of us are held back. We call upon our sisters around the world to be brave鈥攖o embrace the strength within themselves and realize their full potential.鈥�
鈥擬alala Yousafzai
As the Standing Committee on Global Citizenship continues to consider ways in which teachers, students, and community members can increase our knowledge of what it means to be a global citizen, we turned to the status of girls and women for the month of March. In the United States, March serves as Women鈥檚 History Month, and the theme for is 鈥淗onoring Trailblazing Women in Labor and Business.鈥�
There are many trailblazing women to admire, and thus on a personal level, girls might be encouraged to consult biographies of women who have made a difference in the world of business and labor. Understanding what encompasses both business and labor would be a great start for girls in elementary and middle school, while addressing explicit ways young women might enter the world of business and labor would make for great teaching at the secondary and postsecondary levels.
The 楼凤天堂 Women鈥檚 History Project website is a great resource for learning more about female leaders throughout time. Nominations for include Kate Mullany, who, in 1845, began the first all-women labor union, and Lucy Parsons Gonzales, who founded the Industrial Workers of the World in 1905.
In discussions about women鈥檚 history, exemplars of strong voices who disrupt the status quo can be found in clips from biographies on series such as PBS鈥檚 鈥溾��. This month ABC鈥檚 鈥�,鈥� addresses issues of gender and gender advocacy and offers another great way to encourage students to become familiar with positive avenues for equity.
As seems threatened, emailing congressional representatives as well as school board representatives and school district administrators about supporting transgendered students is one action students can take. Talking about such issues and the historic actions taken in the past to protect other underrepresented groups is equally important.
Using biography projects (see and ) or encouraging innovations through inquiry projects that would make a change in people鈥檚 lived experiences (see nd ), young people have a path to action. Inviting students to become participants in organizations such as or can help them see that they can be the change we want to see in the world.