A new club has arrived. HeforShe kicked off with its first organizational meeting on March 30th in room 1303. Yardley Whaylen ‘20 and Mya Kahle ‘20 set the agenda from the front of the class to plan upcoming events with other members of the club.

“I think the topic of feminism and gender equality has more to do with guys than they think,” Whaylen said. “They think that when they hear the words feminism it’s all around women power and topics revolving around women but really [it’s] problems like toxic masculinity and gender roles.”

The HeForShe organisation was founded in 2014 by UN Women with the goal of increasing male action against gender inequality. At City High, the club aims to reach out discussions of gender equality to a broader audience.

“If only one half of the population feels welcome in the fight for gender equality, then it’s not going to get anywhere, because it takes everyone,” Kahle said.

At the meeting, the club started the process of planning an Awareness Week. Together, they bounced ideas around about contacting speakers from the community, including a gender studies teacher and speakers from the Rape Victim Advocacy Program.

Both Whaylen and Kahle are adamant about the importance of increasing participation in the movement for gender equality. Member David Keffala-Gerhard ‘18 concurs.

“I think traditionally, historically, men have carried a lot of weight in terms of influence and power in the world and women for the most part have just been on the side lines because men haven’t let them take part, which is really not okay,” Keffala-Gerhard said. “What’s important is that women have always been trying to take part in the world they live in as they should, but men have been stopping them or hindering them, and it’s super important that people are reaching across this boundary line and helping pull the genders together as a sort of unification.”

The club also noted that it was open to all members of the student body.

“A lot of people think that it’s for girls or guys only, but it’s really for everyone on the gender spectrum,” Kahle said. “It’s not for one specific group.”