Girls' Empowerment in Talpiot community

"Boys want to be actors or footballers. Girls want to be beautiful."

This year a special group was opened in the Talpiot community: Girl's Empowerment for girls aged 11 to 12.

The group was opened by Carmel, Bakehila Year of Service Fellow, when she recognized the need for empowerment among Talpiot's young girls, whose confidence in co-ed classrooms and social events was slowly dwindling. "The boys are very dominant at school, both in the classroom and during break times. The girls seem to give up in advance, even when they love the subject or activity," Carmel told us.

This correlates with a phenomenon among young girls called Girls' Silence, as coined by researcher Dr Allyson Jule, whereby the voice of girls starts to noticeably disappear from classroom interaction where there are boys present, as well as in social areas. According to statistics, boys are 9 times more likely to speak up in the classroom and are encouraged to do as such, leading to decreased academic engagement among girls. This phenomenon is present in co-ed classrooms worldwide, regardless of differences in race, social class or intelligence of such girls (Jule, 2003).

In order to combat this phenomenon, the Girls' Empowerment group was established in Bakehila's Talpiot community. The group offers a place for girls of the same age to build meaningful bonds, while working on confidence, feminism and identity. "We want to show the girls that they, too, have a lot to contribute and ways to develop," explained Carmel, "We want to affect the girls' confidence on all fronts, and a positive result can potentially affect them for the rest of their lives."

The group's flagship objectives include: creating a safe space where girls can discuss issues and receive support, while initiating dialogue on topics such as personal boundaries, self-expression, identity, civil rights, feminism, and the influence of women in history and today.

The group meets weekly at the El Halev center in the Talpiot area, and begins with a workshop, followed by a discussion. Past workshops include self-defense and independence, make-up and self-expression, feminist messages in popular films, a feminist-themed Monopoly game which featured influential female figures throughout history, and more. After every workshop Carmel leads a discussion on the topic, and the girls raise related issues from daily life. Thjis creates a platform for the girls to offer their views and establish their personal identities, thus building their confidence as young women.

And it seems that, already, the girls empowerment group is making a difference. "Suddenly the girls in class are speaking out more, and are more connected to themselves…. Suddenly the boys are the ones who are jealous, because the girls are the center of attention. It is evident that these things are impacting the girls positively, in all aspects of their lives."

The group operates in cooperation with the El Halev center, which offers self-defense workshops in the Talpiot area.

Bakehila is currently exploring the possibility of expanding Girl's Empowerment groups to additional Bakehila communities in Jerusalem, following positive feedback within the Talpiot community.