“It’s not just a woman’s rights issue, it’s a human rights issue.” This motto rings throughout the He for She feminist campaign, weaving its way into North’s hallways. The French club and Willow are selling He for She bands for $2. The money that is raised will be donated to women in Cote d’Ivoire.

“(Willow) works to empower young women in North’s community and part of that is encouraging them to break away from gender stereotypes,” senior Stephanie Godoshian said. “Part of the He for She campaign is getting men involved in the fight for gender equality, so we kind of meshed the two together to come up with this cause”

Godoshian developed the idea of selling wristbands from senior Gabrielle Wren Sledge who approached her and suggested the idea. Wren Sledge is an advocate for feminism and donates frequently to charities, with He for She at her forefront.

Wren Sledge first got involved in the He for She movement after presenting a project about feminism in her speech class and watched a United Nations conference where Emma Watson was the spokesperson, peaking her interest.

“(Watson) had this idea of bringing men into feminism and getting rid of the idea that it’s derogatory and men-hating,” Wren Sledge said. “I thought that was really interesting so I looked into this campaign and saw that men were participating all over the world and I thought that was really cool.”

Although the French club is not directly involved with Willow’s goal of empowering young women, they do take a special interest in helping a French-speaking African country.

“I wanted to help (Godoshian) out and when I heard the money could go to Cote d’Ivoire, that’s when I asked her if she wanted us to help out selling them,” senior Harriet Sauget said. “We’ve learned all of these different African countries in our class — it was a huge part of French two and three. So because it’s part of the curriculum, I thought it’d be neat to actually help that country out.”

Willow and the French club’s main goal is to help make people aware of the cause and spread the word.

“I’ve always thought that the first step in solving a problem is creating an awareness about it,” Godoshian said. “To end gender inequality on a global scale, we’re starting on our small scale.”