Conestoga Girl Up Chapter Hosting Gender Equity Seminar Aug 11

TREDYFFRIN TOWNSHIP, PA — The Tredyffrin Public library next week will be the site of an event that seeks to educate local youths about the struggles of their international counterparts.

The Conestoga High School Chapter of Girl Up will host its first-ever Gender Equity Seminar on Sunday, Aug. 11 at the library. The seminar will run from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and is targeted at kids 8 to 14 years old.

Conestoga senior Zara Samdani, who founded the chapter in 2023 and serves as co-president, told Patch the event will feature six stations that focus on how girls are discriminated against across the world.

Topics of the stations include the digital divide, pay gap, educational disparities, and more, she said.

Members of the chapter will man each station and give brief talks on each topic, followed by an activity that will instill the information while keeping attendees engaged.

Those who attend will also have the chance to talk with fellow advocates at Conestoga High School and beyond, Samdani said.

Girl Up was launched in 2010 by the United Nations Foundation as "for girls, by girls" campaign.

Samdani said it's a global network of young women who tackle specific problems that girls face around the world.

Each chapter holds their own events, raising funds to support girls in developing countries and spreading awareness of issues faced by young women globally.

The Conestoga chapter, Samdani said, focuses largely on educational disparities girls face.

"There are girls around the world, and even girls in Philadelphia which is just a couples miles away, that may not have access to proper education," she said.

Boasting 80 members, the Conestoga chapter has raised funds to support education of refugees in Uganda and has hosted workshops, such as the one planned for Aug. 11, to help others understand those disparities.

Samdani said she launched the chapter in 2023 after she volunteered at an international nonprofit that built schools for girls in Pakistan.

"That whole experience was very eye-opening," she said.

Samdani said she's eyeing majoring in public policy and minoring in women's study to enter a career focused on helping women across the globe.

"I think about my personal experience and the girls that I have surrounded myself with, and we are very fortunate to live in a society where, for the most part, we're treated ok, we'ere treated equally," she said. "No one would want their girl to be treated bad, I just don't understand why anyone else would want girls around the world to be treated disrespectfully."

Learn more about Girl Up online here.

The Tredyffrin Public Library is located at 582 Upper Gulph Road in Strafford.