We were looking at the power of harmful language used when discussing gender, honing in on how the phrase “boys will be boys” impacts negatively all genders.

The platform on which we shared these thoughts was a podcast which was released to each form in the school. The feedback was mostly positive; the Google Form we distributed indicated that people found it fairly engaging and generally agreed with the message.

WHAT WAS OUR IMPACT?

”We sent out a Google Form to everyone in the school. It was firstly encouraging that well over half the school responded to the form.

In terms of the results, the reported level of engagement was fair and most acknowledged the reality of the issue we discussed. Some of the written responses were infantile — “too woke” or “make it Joe Rogan Experience” for example. Other responses were more thoughtful and are discussed here...”

WHAT DID WE LEARN?

“Plan well ahead of time. There is always something that will come up that means doing a project the day after you planned it is very unlikely.

Also, delegate clearly. This abstraction of the process of project planning is essential; it will cut down on procrastination and make everyone feel more involved in the team.”

WHAT WOULD WE DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME?

“While we analysed the impact on all genders, we received feedback that we may have been so caught up in trying to preempt and rebut the talking points of anti feminists — saying boys are affected too etc. — that we almost forgot that the main impact is still on girls.

We would be more careful in balancing this next time and how we structure our arguments to effectively rebut but clearly lay out our own ideas as well.”