What are Girls Coalition Groups (GCG)?
Elementary and middle school girls and trained volunteers (Muses) from Colby College meet weekly to create a coalition of girl allies. The groups discuss media literacy, gender stereotypes and how to proactively change the culture around them through social action projects.
Why creation coalitions of girls?
Girls need a safe space where they can*:
- Relax, be uniquely themselves, and speak their thoughts and feelings
- Experience supportive connections with other girls and with adult muses
- Discuss and share common views and goals
- Feel less alone
- Discuss and validate a range of feelings, desires, anxieties, and concerns
- Think critically about stereotypes, unfairness, and hurt
- Experience the power of sisterhood by crossing clique or peer group lines
* Adapted from Stronger Together Curriculum by Jackie Dupont and Lyn Mikel Brown
Who participates in GCG?
Girls in Greater Waterville
When and where do GCGs meet?
These groups generally meet during lunch/recess, or sometimes before the school day starts, at their own schools.
THINGS TO NOTE
These groups create space for the girls to move the conversation where they want to and talk about topics they may not be able to elsewhere. Through social action projects, they aim to create change in the school that will outlast the presence of muses and a coalition group.
How you can help.
If you attend Colby College and are interested in being trained as a Muse, please reach out or come visit us at the activity fair at the start of each school year.
Seek us out if you are a school staff or teacher who would like to start a group in your school.
“Since joining this group, I feel more confident about myself, and am able to tell others about my feelings now.” – 6th grader
“I’ve become more confident about who I am, and what I want to become.” – 8th grader
“I identified as a feminist before Hardy Girls, but now I have the tools to think critically about my surroundings.”
Hardy Girls Healthy Women takes girls* seriously through year-round, statewide programs that put the power in their hands to challenge a society that ignores their brilliance. We dare adult allies to join us in standing with girls.
* self-identifying girls and gender expansive folks
