UC High’s Women Empowerment Club educates the school community about prevalent social issues that women face, fundraises for organizations that support their cause and provides a place to discuss personal issues involving womanhood.

   The creation of the Women Empowerment Club stemmed from a discussion about the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the landmark case on abortion rights, Roe v. Wade. “We wanted to provide a support group and a safe place to educate and discuss women’s issues,” said Club Advisor and BioMed Teacher Leslie Wymer. The club donated all of their proceeds from the school’s January multicultural fair to Planned Parenthood and hope to hold more fundraisers for similar causes in the foreseeable future.

   According to World Vision, “Women’s empowerment can be defined as promoting women’s sense of self-worth, their ability to determine their own choices, and their right to influence social change for themselves and others” (worldvision.com).

   Women Empowerment Club Co-President Senior Grace Cowman says that she does her part to empower women and tries to be supportive and encouraging by never bringing another woman down. Cowman said, “Women empowerment has taught me the importance of uplifting the women around me and educating students on women’s rights issues.”

   According to an India-based news outlet, the concept of women’s empowerment was introduced at the United Nations’ Third World Conference in Nairobi, in 1985. The source said, “Women’s empowerment has now become an international agenda. The United Nations’ charter significantly projected discrimination against women as a problem of universal alarm” (roundtableindia.com).

   Women Empowerment Club Co-President Senior Dalia Powell stands in solidarity with her fellow classmates. “Women Empowerment Club has taught me to always stand up for what I believe in and never be scared to share my opinion,” said Powell.

     Wymer said, “As club advisor, I oversee the meetings, provide feedback, and give suggestions for future meeting topics.”

   According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, “Gender inequalities are still deep-rooted in every society. Women suffer from lack of access to decent work and face occupational segregation and gender wage gaps” (sdgs.un.org).

      “Despite recent progress, women are still paid less than men, and the pay gap worsens with age,”  according to American Progress. They explained that younger workers’ (16-24) usual weekly earnings are 8 percent lower than men’s, and women aged 65 and older earn 27 percent less than men of the same age (americanprogress.org).

     The club meets in room 444 every other Friday at lunch.