A new club has been formed called Advocats, a women’s rights group that deals with societal problems when it comes to gender inequality and empowerment.

Julia Thurau, a junior, first proposed the idea of a women’s rights club to a group of her friends in the early days of the school year, and she got a quick response from multiple that they would love to be a part of this new club if it started up. After many discussions among her friends, the idea for the name Advocats was created, inspired by the idea of advocating for gender equality, and Thurau set out to make sure the club was established. Because the club is just starting up, many of the meetings so far have been to determine the plans of the organization.

“We have a pretty good amount of people. I’d say we have every class well-represented. Lots of juniors and sophomores, as well as some seniors and freshmen,” said Thurau. “It’s good that we have a mix of everyone because anyone can join. We have some guys, and a lot of girls.”

Thurau says that she’s always been interested in women’s rights and gender equality, stemming her interest in starting a club. “A lot of people say that women can vote, so why do we need women’s rights? It’s a lot more than that,” she said.

“We want to do a lot of fundraising and volunteer work, especially with the Haven. We want to support women’s education, and we’re going to be having some guest speakers come in. We have some cool activities planned, like [school resource officer] Mr. Uliks is coming in to teach a self-defense class, and overall we want to have good discussions to educate people,” said Thurau.

Early on in the beginning of the year, Thurau asked Ms. Andrea Lara, a social studies teacher, to be her sponsor. The group was quickly passed through as an official school-sponsored club at LHS.

“The president is Julia Thruau, and Monica Martin is the vice president. They’re running the day-to-day meetings and that sort of thing with the discussions,” said Ms. Lara.

“We’re still thinking about the direction of the club, but the focus is on the issues of gender studies and gender norms, and how they affect high school kids. They want to make it relevant for people in the club,” she said.

Monica Martin, one of Julia’s good friends, was excited to help out with the start of the club.  “When Julia came up with the idea of the club, I wanted to get in on it right away. We wanted to make a community for feminist causes,” she said. “It’s about getting rid of the misconceptions and working towards goals for equality as a whole.”

There are around 30 students in the club, and, according to Ms. Lara, there is a very diverse group of every grade. “These kids read a lot online, so I think the kids really want good discussion for these issues. We want to raise awareness for some of these issues at school. We have such a good mix of girls and guys as well,” she said.

Ms. Lara leaves lots of the direction of the club in Julia Thurau’s hands. “Women’s rights isn’t a women issue; it’s a human issue. I’m really excited this is finally coming together because it’s important for young people to be involved because this all affects us,” Thurau said. “A lot of people don’t realize that these things are going to be our issues one day that we’re dealing with, and we want people to be aware that there are things to be said for gender equality and feminism. Everyone is affected.”

  Ms. Lara explains that feminism is a very taboo term. “The word feminism is very misunderstood. It’s not about women being better than men, or even about women’s rights. It’s about equality,” said Lara. “It’s great to see so many students being interested in these issues and taking the initiative to deal with them.”