March 8, 1917 marked a revolutionary point of success in womens’ rights. However, even in today’s modern world, inequalities between men and women, such as the gender pay gap, still persist. While Pinewood may not have much influence in this issue globally, Pinewood took steps to address these inequalities in its own community. On March 8, Head of Upper Campus Gabriel Lemmon announced that starting next year, all female students would not be required to attend class during March in honor of Women’s History Month.
“I believe that the decision that the faculty ultimately voted on is the right one,” Lemmon said. “We need to recognize the hardships faced by women and this barely scratches the surface. Schools in general must recognize the importance of their female students and staff, and show that we value them.”
According to Lemmon, the implementation of not requiring female students to go to school is a good start, but more steps need to be taken. Math teacher Sara Dorset agrees. Dorset said they should add to Lemmon’s initiative with a four-day-work week for all female teachers.
“I love that Pinewood’s female students are getting this well-deserved treatment, but if I am going to be candid, a classroom of solely male students might get quite tiresome,” Dorset said. “Us staff members need a break as well.”
Many students have expressed a variety of emotions about female students not attending classes. Sophomore Trevor Koo said he is concerned.
“My Pinewood female classmates bring life and many creative ideas to the classroom and without them, I am afraid that classes will be depressing and frankly boring,” Koo said.
According to Koo, he will miss seeing and interacting with his friends on campus. Fortunately for him, some of his female classmates, like junior Katherine Garr, plan to continue attending their March classes.
“At first, instead of coming to school I thought the best scenario would be to stay at home and play basketball, but then I realized that I would probably miss my interactions with my classmates and teachers–especially since next year would be my final year of high school,” Garr said.
On the other hand, other female students plan to allot their time to more memorable activities. Female students love the option of being able to choose to come to school or not during March. They are excited for the new change and feel deeply valued by the Pinewood community.
“I feel like high school has been a made rush and I’m excited to finally have fun with friends while honoring women’s history,” senior Karina Aronson said. “I’ll definitely be thinking about Susan B. Anthony while sunbathing in Half Moon Bay.”
