Hillsborough Students Raise Awareness For Gender Equality

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — The newly created Hillsborough Middle School student club, Boro Gender Equality, held a co-ed basketball game last month, as a way to raise student awareness of gender equality in their suburban community as well as educate their peers to the discrimination and violence that women face in other parts of the world.

The 15 club members, recognizing the passion that the Hillsborough community has for the sport
of basketball, thought it would be a great idea to invite both the Hillsborough Middle School boys and girls basketball teams to participate in a charity event that would highlight that although we as a country have come a long way in regards to addressing gender inequities, we still have a long way to go.

Players from both basketball teams jumped at the opportunity to participate. Boro Gender Equality club members created two teams with an equal mix of players by grade level as well as by gender. During the game, these mixed teams quickly came to understand how to work together and rely on each individual’s unique skills set to advance the team as a whole while not assigning gender bias to a particular skill.

In addition to helping their peers to understand and recognize gender inequities that still exist in
our communities, the charity basketball game also raised money through the sale of baked goods
and snacks. Over $260 was raised and donated to Heifer International, a charity working to end
hunger and poverty around the world by providing livestock and training to struggling
communities.

New to the Hillsborough Middle School this year, the Boro Gender Equality Club was the
passion project of Hillsborough Middle School eighth grade student Venya Bhardwaj.

Bhardwaj was inspired to create the club and expand her peers’ understanding of this topic following a seventh grade literacy class in which she read a short picture book published in the 1950s titled, I am a Boy, You are a Girl. The book was full of stereotypes.

"I originally thought the book was modern and was horrified," stated Bhardwaj. "But when I learned of its true age, I realized how messed up our world is and how much it's still healing. We have to help it do so."

It is the hope of the Boro Gender Equality club that the basketball game will become an annual
event at Hillsborough Middle School. The founding members also hope to continue to add to
their list of events as they aim to spread knowledge regarding the hunt for gender equality.

— Submitted by Hillsborough Township Public Schools

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