Gender Barriers

Back to school special

by Sarah Wilson

As a new school year begins, a new crop of young people face the unique torture known as junior high. Yes, it's tough for boys, but it's really a full-on trauma for girls. The insecurities, the Battle of the Bust (too little, too much?), the First Visit (if you have to ask...) -- girls have enough to deal with without having barriers put in front of them because of their gender. It's something Portlanders Odelle Bowman and Larinda Meade, being honored this year by the Maine Women's Fund for their work in breaking down gender barriers, have thought a lot about. Bowman uses theater to strengthen girls self-esteem through her troupe A Company of Girls, and Meade is co-director of Portland's Adult Education and has been an advocate for women's issues for years. They will be presented their awards -- along with Elise Brown of Liberty and Caitlin Schick of Mount Desert Island -- at the Maine Women's Fund 10th anniversary celebration on October 2. We caught up with Bowman and Meade recently to talk about braving back to school.

Q: The early adolescence stage is awful for anyone. What gender-related problems do teenage girls face that teenage boys avoid?

Bowman: The issue I encounter most is appearance. What our culture says about the way they need to look, to dress, in terms of name-brand stuff -- those kinds of issues. When 11- to 12-year-old girls move from fifth to sixth grade, they're thrown into a culture that is primarily about how you look, what you wear, and where you are in the pecking order of the school. That is really hard.

Q: What things could parents, teachers, and coaches do at the primary level to help girls maintain their confidence?

Meade: Tell them how smart, strong, and beautiful they are, and praise them for how well they're doing in school . . . concentrate on the other factors.

Bowman: We need to get the kids before they get to middle school. The younger you get to a kid, the better, in terms of developing their self-esteem. I think that the schools are understaffed, and teachers are having more demands made on them all the time.

Q: Do you feel that an all-girls school is a good way to circumvent gender barriers?

Meade: Co-ed classes can work. It's a matter of respect for individual differences, and that the teachers, the administration, and the students are working together to create a safe environment.

Q: If you could change one thing about how boys and girls are taught, what would it be?

Bowman: If there was only one thing, it would be having teachers learn how to listen to boys and girls. Having both genders understand their differences and also what they have in common . . . to create dialogue, because that's often what is missing.

Meade: Gender equity is not just a girls' or women's issue, it's also trying to help boys or men feel comfortable . . . . You need individual respect and to work together as a team.

Bowman: We live in a world filled with men. If there is no work done to help create healthy young men and healthy men, who do the girls have to work with or have relationships with? There need to be more programs for boys, and men.