“Global Sisters has given girls a platform to speak about issues that are affecting them”
A student group established in Derry’s Thornhill College is creating a platform for female students to raise their voices around feminist issues.
Global Sisters was created by 17 year olds Aine Bryce and Cara McGonagle, alongside their peers, in Autumn last year. Since then they have spoken at rallies and raised awareness among fellow students in regards to violence against women.
Aine and Cara spoke to Belfast Live about the journey they have made in establishing Global Sisters.
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They said: “Global Sisters has given girls a platform to speak about issues that are affecting them and we are breaking the stigma about speaking up and making people care about things that aren’t directly affecting them too.
“We are raising awareness about things people may not have known about prior and seeing that there is more than just Derry. We don’t just talk about what affects women in the West, we are more intersectional and look at global issues.
“Everyone in the school has been so supportive, as soon as we mentioned what we wanted to do loads of people wanted to join.
“The staff at Thornhill were also so supportive. Mr Deane, Vice Principal Mrs Donnelly and our year head Mrs O’Donnell in particular were so helpful in particular and encouraged us.”
Aine and Cara came up with the idea as they wanted to create a space where their peers could discuss issues with each other.
They said: “There isn’t really a place to talk about things that are happening around the world so it was important to create a space where we can talk about it.
“Not a lot of young people use their voice to speak out about issues they care about, there is a bit of a stigma.
“We think it is so important to speak out because we can see first hand the change we have been able to make in a few months. It is amazing to think what could happen if more people spoke out.”
Global Sisters have built their social media presence and have seen the benefit of putting their message out in growing confidence among their peers to speak out.
Aine and Cara said: “Social media has been so important for us, the outreach has been great. We actually have had girls from other schools contact us to say they want to set up a branch in their school.
“We are looking to do a fundraiser for Sudan, a girl in our year is from Sudan and we would really like to raise awareness about it as people don’t talk about what is happening there as much as other global conflicts like Palestine.”
Aine is also in contact with a teenage girl living in Palestine, and sharing their as young women in different circumstances pushed Aine even further in raising awareness.
Global Sisters have also seen the devastating impact that violence against women and girls has had on their own community in Derry.
Aine said: “We attended the vigil for Amy Doherty and I held one of the pictures of women that have been murdered, hearing her mum and the other representatives speak and was so emotional.
“Having something like that happen in your own city is so eye-opening. I don’t think people realise how prevalent femicide is.”
For Aine and Cara, creating Global Sisters has allowed them to create a path for future students to continue on. They hope that the group will continue after they finish their A levels and leave Thornhill.
Aine said: “Global Sisters has definitely made me much more confident. We won a leadership award at the Derry Credit Union which was amazing as well. We made friends with people we wouldn’t know otherwise and build a community from it.
“I think it is important that we do this as senior pupils as well. My sister is in second year and they look up to us and would feel comfortable for them to come and speak to us if something was affecting them.
“We have such a good working relationship with the school. They work with us really well and support us in the things we do and guide us in how we can do them better as well.”
Cara added: “We have learned about so many new things, I hadn’t known the extent of what was going on out there until we started doing educational meetings.. The younger you learn the more it will be set into you and you’ll carry a stronger moral compass as you get older as well.
“We want to pass Global Sisters on to someone else, we would like to see it continue after we leave. We hope it doesn’t end with us.”
Global Sisters is a beacon of hope that future generations will be more enlightened around issues facing women globally, as well as on their own doorstep.
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