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Off the Beach: ‘Girl Power’ suffers collateral damage

A letter this week from a clearly upset Halfmoon Bay parent raises some serious questions about a “Girl Power” event held recently in School District No. 46. The main issue was the decision to include some girls and exclude others.

A letter this week from a clearly upset Halfmoon Bay parent raises some  serious questions about a “Girl Power” event held recently in School District No. 46. The main issue was the decision to include some girls and exclude others.


“I honestly can’t even fathom how anyone could think that singling out certain girls to partake in a ‘girl power day’ and not include all girls would not give those chosen a sense of superiority and those not, a feeling of dejection and inferiority,” T. leNobel wrote.


In his Sept. 12 update to the board of education, superintendent of schools Patrick Bocking reported: “GrlPower Girls in grades 6, 7, and 8 from all of our schools will participate in a leadership conference on Sept. 14. High profile women in sports will speak to the girls about empowerment and leadership.”
I contacted Mr. Bocking Tuesday to let him know that a letter would be appearing in this week’s paper and to ask a few questions suggested by the contents of the letter.


He was quick to get back to me and, as always, extremely cordial and forthcoming.


The event was called #SUNSHINECOASTGRLPWR and it was designed, Mr. Bocking wrote, “as an opportunity for girls in grades 6, 7, and 8 to participate in an event to celebrate and empower some of our young people to learn some skills and attitudes that they can bring back to their schools to raise everyone up through follow-up school-based activities. In order to make this a district-wide event, we asked elementary schools to choose up to nine girls in the three grades based on participation in school sports and who actively engage in other school activities beyond regular programming.”
He added: “It would have been wonderful to have all girls attend but as this is the first time this event took place, we felt that a more manageable event would be best. I appreciate that we have heard from parents at one school who feel that another strategy could have been used and we will take that input into account when we consider activities in the future.”


I asked Mr. Bocking if there was a similar program for boys.


“The committee is considering the next step – including possibly an event for boys,” he said. “This has not been determined at this point as we will be reflecting on the success of this event.”


I asked: “How do you address the issue of exclusion and possible feelings of ‘dejection and inferiority’ in the girls who were not selected?”


“I have not heard from our staff that there are feelings of dejection or inferiority from this or any other activity,” he answered. “I would encourage any parent who feels that their child is feeling upset for any reason that the parent should approach their child’s teacher or principal so that the student can be supported. We have very active social emotional learning activities taking place in our schools. These include boys and girls circles and support from our elementary school teacher counsellors.”


In the 24 hours after our exchange, I received two more emails from parents who had concerns about the event similar to those expressed by T. leNobel. One woman said her daughter came home from school crying because “she felt like she wasn’t good enough.”

I’m glad the school district will be reflecting on the success of its “Girl Power” event.