I teach at the only girls' school in the state of Minnesota. We are also a devout Catholic community, founded by the Sisters of the Visitation Educate young women in virtue, intellect, mind and heart. To build on our founders' mission, the school began offering a women's studies elective titled “Women and Society,” which I have proudly taught since 2014.
The course covers the history of feminism then and now, including an extensive lesson on gender-based violence. sexual abuse and violence against women These are already difficult topics to discuss with adolescents; Adding the fact that we are a Catholic school is enough to send my school administrators' anxiety through the roof.
Still, our students deserve a curriculum that gives them access to unraveling the injustices of being young in a world that still abuses and discriminates against women.
As a teacher, I can equip my students with the knowledge necessary to transform our society into one that values the inherent dignity of women. Although it may seem risky at an all-girls Catholic school, as our students are encouraged to create a more equitable world, including women's studies in our curriculum has become crucial.
When friction and opposition arise
A former colleague originally created the women's studies course in response to our school's push to promote itself as a leading institution that helps girls realize their potential and lead lives of dignity and service. Fortunately, the school board felt that their “Women and Society” proposal was aligned with this impulse and the course was approved. Just before my colleague retired in 2014, she asked me if I would like to take over, to which I firmly replied, “Yes!” I applied for the position and, due to my experience studying and studying women's studies during university, I was given the opportunity to teach the course.
Over time, the course has become a student favorite. Students have felt empowered by women's studies because it invites them to question and understand the systemic injustices and contradictory perceptions of feminism that they have been taught by their friends, family, and social media. Unfortunately, teaching women's studies is still considered antithetical to Catholicism in our broader school community.
In 2016, like most communities in our nation, our school was divided between conservative and progressive. catholic beliefs, which, while improving, have not yet been completely resolved. Many community members also believed that activism and feminism were topics that did not belong in our curricula. As a result, the women's studies course became an easy target for being identified as anti-Catholic, and as a teacher of this course, I came under scrutiny and the curriculum I created was reduced to a Political agenda that promoted the goals of man-hating feminists..
Frankly, and for the record, the course has no agenda, however, I spend an exhausting amount of time demonstrating that advocating for the dignity and end of violence against women is deeply connected to our Catholic identity.
As an educator, I embrace my classroom as a place of hope and gathering where students and I come together to grow our empathy and humanity. Women's studies provides a space to do just that, and I have learned that when we see the inherent dignity of every person we encounter, we create a better community of learners.
Despite the controversies that the class and its curriculum sometimes generate in the school community, our administration and the Visitation Sisters have never decided to remove “Women and Society” from our course catalog. In fact, there is complete agreement among our teachers and administrators that teaching young women and girls to advocate for themselves is fundamental to who we are as a Catholic school.
Help students connect their Catholic identity with feminism
Women's studies at our all-girls Catholic school is important because we have the primary opportunity to center our lives as women in a male-dominated society. In the course, we not only strive to debunk common ideas myths about feminism but we also establish a definition of feminism that aligns with the mission of our school.
At the beginning of the course, I introduce Catholic feminists. Elizabeth Johnsonwho defines feminism as:
“a worldview or stance that affirms the dignity of women as fully human persons in their own right; criticizes systems of patriarchy for violating this dignity; and advocates for social and intellectual challenges to achieve free relationships between human beings…”
I use this quote to establish an association and direct connection between feminism that seeks the full dignity of women and the Catholic concept of The dignity of the human person. This allows us to analyze how women's dignity is systematically stripped away in a society that prioritizes the needs of men.
With feminism firmly rooted in the idea that women deserve equal dignity, we can examine difficult topics like gender-based violence and ask why society functions in a way that repeatedly diminishes women's dignity. Too often, women's dignity is erased and devalued in our society, especially considering that 1 in 5 women in the United States They are sexually assaulted during their lives. Walking the halls of our Catholic girls' school makes this statistic particularly alarming.
For me, the most impactful part of our study on gender violence is when I present a panel on sexual assault and abuse. victims-survivors to our class. One of the victim-survivors is a student and she and two of her colleagues have come to class over the past few years to talk about her personal experience with gender-based violence. Every time they come, they speak with a level of candor, humor, and authenticity that leaves students' hearts raw and on fire. Suddenly, gender violence, a topic we have researched and studied in the abstract, is humanized thanks to the real-life experiences of these women. Students better understand how pervasive sexual assault and abuse is in their own lives, and that it can also happen to strong, confident women like them.
By the end of the panel, students are forever transformed by the courage and vulnerability of victim-survivors and are inspired to share their knowledge with family, friends, and anyone who will listen. To me, this is education working at its deepest level.
Women's Studies in a Catholic School is Important
Educating our students about the ways our society perpetuates gender violence and the inferiority of women is an obligation I have as a teacher at an all-girls Catholic school. As a graduate of an all-girls Catholic high school and mother of three daughters, I want to know that I have done my part to educate and dream with students about a more secure and dignified existence for women.
Although many members of the community believe that teaching women's studies is outside the bounds of Church doctrine, I continue to believe that it is the responsibility of Catholics to participate in the fight to end discrimination against women and build a society where dignity is shared equally between all genders. As a Catholic theologian sister Joan Chittister states, feminism “is not about getting what men already have…Feminism is about getting a better world for everyone.”
Like the Sisters of the Visitation, I will continue to exercise my leadership as a woman in a patriarchal framework to work for equality, starting from the inside out.
