Fighting Sexism In My High School

I was born with alopecia, a condition in which hair fails to grow on most parts of the body where it normally grows. Growing up in Zimbabwe, I wasn’t accepted because, in my society, hair is an important part of femininity. Many people in my life told me that I should not dare to have ambitions, be vocal, or express my opinions because in their eyes I was completely insignificant. I was avoided by almost everyone and chased away from every club I tried to join at school.

When I was 15 years old, I figured that if I wasn't accepted in any of the clubs at school, I might as well start my own, so I started a club that focused on empowering girls. I did this because I needed self-empowerment so that I could accept myself the way I was and not feel less feminine because I was bald. I knew if I accepted my uniqueness, the whole world would follow suit and this would break the stereotypes that people had of what they considered feminine.

Beyond my own experiences, though, I noticed that girls and women around me were experiencing many forms of gender-based discrimination and abuse every day — and moreover, were being blamed for that abuse. For instance, some of the male teachers at my school would have intimate relationships with some of the female students, who were below the age of consent. Should these female students report this to another teacher, the teachers would blame them and label them as girls of loose morals, who tried to seduce their teacher by wearing a tight skirt or not wearing their school blazers and allowing a bright-colored bra to show beneath her school shirt. Never mind that we are in Africa, where the weather is often too hot to wear a blazer for eight hours — something that was recognized for boys, who could wear their uniforms any way they wanted. If this came to the attention of the headmaster, it was either swept under the carpet, or female students involved were expelled, while the teachers would walk away scot-free, free to pounce on their next victim.

In addition to the mistreatment of girls, a number of school rules blatantly favored boys over girls. For example, while girls were required to clean the school — our school fees weren’t enough to employ cleaning staff — boys were exempted from taking part since it was seen as girls’ duty to sweep and mop. Whenever we inquired why we received different treatment from the boys, we were told that we were being groomed on how to be good wives and daughters-in-law who knew how to clean. They claimed it was not fair to make the boys help us clean since they won't do any chores when they marry.

Implementing the club was extremely hard, as I faced a lot of opposition from some teachers and male students. I received a lot of hurtful remarks from people, and whenever I initiated an awareness campaign, I was told that I should not even think of being a voice to the girls at school since I was bald. Some would even tell me how I would make a terrible daughter-in-law because of my rebellious nature. Some of the teachers no longer marked my school work. I still remember when someone placed a dead frog on my desk at school in order to threaten me to be silent.

There were times I wanted to give up because of this treatment, but I had support from the headmaster, the deputy headmaster, the teachers responsible for the club, and my friend. And as time went on, the girls in my club became more empowered, and the boys at school increasingly supported them because of the awareness campaigns we did. For instance, the number of girls who would contest and be chosen to be club presidents increased. The boys were no longer bothered by the idea of having a female president in any club, as they now viewed us as equals.

One of the club’s biggest victories was the creation of the Gender-Based Violence desk, which is a safe space that students could go to at school to report issues concerning abuse and receive assistance.

But while cases of abuse and bullying at school seemed to be dropping overall, this wasn’t the case for me. There were still some people who did not like the new set of rules that were introduced to promote gender parity and felt like I had to be punished for it. I was bullied a lot and whenever I tried to reach out for help, people found it hard to believe that someone who seems so fearless and bold could be a victim. But what they didn't know is that I had always been a victim from the start, a victim who decided to break free from the cage of people's hurtful words, labels, and beliefs. I had to be my own hero. And I presented to the world a tough exterior, having them believe that I was strong and unbreakable when in fact I wasn’t.