Gender Issues at the Columbia Opportunity Center
An Update

Last May, at a benefit dinner in Athens, Ohio - Columbia's "sister village" - I showed some slides of the Opportunity Center, featuring the many small boys who are regulars at the center. Somebody in the back of the room - I don't know who - asked, "Connie, where are the girls?" I floundered, noting that girls in our village are not free to wander about as their brothers are, and that they are needed for domestic responsibilities. There was a pregnant silence, and I made a mental note to find a way to get girls more actively involved.

After returning to the village, I spoke with several mothers, asking them what it would take for them to allow their daughters to spend time with the computers. They requested a structured classroom environment and no boys. When the summer holiday began, I walked from house to house, signing up girls for eight-hour workshops, in two-hour blocks. The response was enthusiastic, the classes were successful, and attendance was almost 100%. I taught about fifty girls, and I am pleased to report that girls are often present in our lab now, and I plan to offer more "girls only" workshops during the December school holiday. My hearty thanks to that woman in the back of the room!

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