Female Empowerment & Motivation club

Sumin Kim

If women all speak up, empower themselves and make their voices heard, then maybe women can change the world’s view on females.

Avantika Tikoo, J1 Reporter
January 6, 2019

If women all speak up, empower themselves and make their voices heard, then maybe women can change the world’s view on females. In order to make the world a better place for women, you must start somewhere. Sophomores Katie Cole and Robin Andrews are trying to do exactly that by co-founding the Female Empowerment and Motivation Club.

“Robin and I wanted to start a club at Bowie and we were trying to find something we both cared about that didn’t already exist,” Cole said. “We both care about advocating for women’s rights and teaching girls how to look after themselves.”

Having awareness of not just what’s around you, but what is happening around the world is crucial when trying to educate and advocate for everyone. Not everybody can stand up for themselves, and learning how to at a young age can prove to be very useful as you grow up.

“We want girls to come because it will help them,” Cole said. “It wasn’t a specific event that prompted it, we just wanted people to come. Women’s rights has been an issue since the beginning of history.”

The club resides amongst the other 100 plus clubs here. Andrews has her own reason for co-founding the Empowering Club. Many movements all come from specific events, and her movement to help girls all started with her heart.

“I’ve always been really passionate about female empowerment and equality,” Andrews said. “I wanted this club to be more of an outreach towards girls at this school. I was talking to some of my friends about it, and a couple of them were like ‘Oh that’s a great idea, but I’m not really a feminist’. And I don’t understand that standpoint.”

Nowadays, the word “feminist” dubs you as a person who only wants women to be all-powerful, in a sense. Although feminism has a knack for causing unwanted judgment, being a feminist doesn’t make a person biased, and Andrews wants to tell that.

“The word ‘feminist’ has developed a negative connotation and I want to help get rid of that because it’s not smart,” Andrews said. “It’s about the equality of sexes and not that women should be above. [This] is where I think people have gone wrong.”

The club is about bringing women together: staff, students, and family. Hopefully one day, it will bring the world together, and women can all stand up for each other and rid all stigmas and spreading the truth.