Цю чудову новину ми отримали від нашої Маші Березовець, яка за програмою обміну навчається в США. Подорож до столиці Маша виборола, взявши участь у конкурсі соціальних есе. Тема, якій присвячено твір, як ніколи є актуальною, особливо в святковий день 8 березня, адже в багатьох країнах в цей день проходять акції за захист прав жінок.

I was 5 when I was walking by the store with my parents and noticed a toy car which I really liked. I reached out to take it when my mom said: "no, sweetie, this is for boys, let's find a doll for you".I was 10 when I came back home with a bruise because that boy hit me and my mom told me: "oh, deer, boys are just boys, he likes you and he tried to have your attention". I was 13 when teacher at school told us to scream "Fire" when men hurt us otherwise no one will help me.I was 15 when I understood that something is wrong with our world.

You can find misogyny everywhere in our daily life. Television tells women that they can't be fat, that they can't be strong, that they can't be smarter than men. And they must obey these.

Even brands that made for women and by women try to make them feel bad about their appearance, saying that they look bad without their cosmetic.

I want to talk about misogyny and share this problem with all people. Although women have right to vote, to study, and to work now, they are still afraid of going out late at night as they can be raped.

We have a right to speak, but no one listens to us. There is always someone who will say that not only woman can be raped or that men suffer from sexism same as women do. It doesn't make the problem smaller, does it? It's the same thing if you tell a person with a headache that thereare people with cancer who feel worse than you. It doesn't help and even make the problem worse.Just think about it,in Ukraine every 5th woman suffers from domestic violence and can't get help and about 20 women die every week from man's hands.

I want women to feel safe in this world, to feel like a human, not like someone's beautiful daughter, sister, or wife.

I want people to understand that women don't want to have more rights than men, they want to be equal.

The Civic Education Workshop is a week when people who have a dream to change this world for better share their thoughts and ideas and as I think even talking about the problem can change its condition as more people will be aware. This year I am spending as an exchange student in the new community and I see a lot of differences between Ukraine and America and I also see that here the condition of misogyny is better. Yes, there are still a lot of problems, but you can see improvements. There are flashmobs on Instagram like "me too", where women can share their stories.Women are less afraid of being oppressed by society and you can see it in the recent news from Hollywood when dozens of actresses told about their bad experiences in getting a role and the whole world now knows the truth.

I am mostly 17 now and soon I will have to go to university and now I need to choose what I want to do in this life. The Cinematography is the thing that I want to study and work in the future. However, there were only 7% of women in the top list of films in 2016. The Cinematography is dominated by men and it's really very difficult to become a film director. That's why I want to bring changes in this world and show that not only men can be good in art.

As for an exchange student, I hope that after I came back home, I will have a chance to change my community and the best way to change something is listening to others. That is what a real leader should do. You need to know what people struggling with, what they want, and what they expect, otherwise if can't achieve success.

Helen Keller, writer and political activist said: "Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much". I think this is the best words that can describe The Civic Education Workshop as it's truth that only a group of people who have the same idea and ready to work hard can change our world.