Circle of Women: Creating Schools for Girls Who Want to Learn

The Williams College chapter of Circle of Women is working on an amazing project at the moment, and always looking for new members to join!

What is Circle of Women?

Circle of women is a national organization across college campuses that works to create schools for girls in areas where there is little educational opportunity. The universities choose a project every year and fundraise to provide the school with the necessary funds for construction and material costs.

What are we working on?

Circle of Women at Williams College is currently working on building a higher secondary school for girls in Jabergali, Pakistan. Pakistan already only contributes a very small portion of its GDP (about 2.5%) towards education, but educational opportunities for girls are even more unusual. Currently, there are no higher secondary schools near UC Jaber Devli which largely restricts the future of young women, and limits them from employment and continued higher-level education.

With that in mind, CoW at Williams is partnering with The Hoshyar Foundation and The Friends Welfare Association to not only build a higher secondary school, but also cover the operating cost for one year, including teacher salaries.

Why is this significant?

It is very easy to take education for granted, and to forget how privileged we are to attend a school like Williams College where there is consistent access to books, learning materials, classrooms, and expert professors. Still, we must remember that in some corners of the world, a proper education is hard to come by, and opportunities for higher education are even more rare. With that in mind, CoW is trying to do our part in the development of educational programs across the globe. These schools in particular will be for young women who face even higher educational neglect.

What can you do?

Circle of Women holds weekly meetings in Upper Paresky every Sunday at 4:30 pm. Also, keep an eye out for events planned by Circle of Women throughout the year. Some past events have included Chipotle orders, letter writing to students, and t-shirt sales.

Want more?

For even more information, you can go on www.circleofwomen.org to learn more about the larger company’s overall mission and the past projects other universities have worked on.