Diversity Committee Hosts Greenwood’s First Women’s Week

The week of April 30 was Greenwood’s first Women’s Week. Organized by the Diversity Committee, the Greenwood community spent the week discussing feminist issues, acknowledging progress that has been made and considering work that still needs to be done.

Women’s Week started off on a high note with a talk by Jennifer Baichwal, Greenwood parent and director of 10 documentary films including Manufactured Landscapes. She spoke about women in the film industry in general as well as her own filmmaking career.

For Baichwal, creating documentaries allowed her more freedom to create her own opportunities within the industry than women in other areas of film. She acknowledged that her early success with Let it Come Down allowed her to avoid some of the film industry’s structural sexism, referring to #MeToo and #TimesUp. Baichwal also talked about the importance of those within the film industry purposefully creating spaces for underrepresented demographics. For Baichwal, this is essential to helping more women break into the industry and move it towards gender parity.

The Diversity Committee had a full roster of events to keep these important conversations going throughout the week. Each day, a Morning Thought Activity station was set up by the front doors with a prompt written on a whiteboard. As students entered the school, they could add their responses on post-it notes, and see what their peers had written.

With a film screening, Kahoot game, slides on the screens, and a feminine hygiene product drive for homeless women, Greenwood’s first Women’s Week was a big success. We look forward to this becoming an annual tradition!