How did you feel the performance was going to go?

Gregona

This was new for me. I’m usually in the background but I didn’t want to let my group members down. I tried to be brave and followed their lead. It was interesting doing the performance.

Danielle

I was extremely excited to speak to my fellow peers and raise awareness for something I feel passionately about. It was comforting knowing that I had a group of like-minded females supporting and participating in this performance.

Ivana

The expectation I had for the duration of the performance was that people would be more open and willing to know about a certain problem in society.

Nakeita

Before the performance, I already had the mindset that a lot of people may not have wanted to go out of their way to participate. However, I did hope that we would be successful in sharing out the fortune cookies and some zines. I was a bit concerned about whether the whole group would be able to overlook any fears or hesitation approaching people as a part of our performance

 

How did you feel during the performance?

Gregona

I think we were mostly well received with a few people who didn’t want to be bothered. Some students volunteered to do the photos while others didn’t want to take part. The cookies were well received and I believe the messages were received well.

I did not take the rejections personally as I felt some people needed their space. Some people don’t want to be bothered when they’re having their lunch. Others might have been stressed about upcoming exams.  I thought the site we picked was a good choice as it’s where education for the subjects of our group (STEM) is taking place.

Danielle

We first approached a group of men with headphones in their ears and eyes focused on their laptops in the cafeteria. They were in no way welcoming or interested in what we had to say, which was very disappointing especially on our first try. We asked them if they had a minute to spare to listen to what we were trying to bring awareness too but it seemed as if we were an inconvenience to them, luckily my teammate Nakeita suggested that we just move on and not to worry.

As we went on with our performance other people seemed to be interested and also supportive of our eagerness to end gender inequality. There were many onlookers and open-minded people who gave us a chance to speak and general respect as we were performing. All of the females that we approached were encouraging and helpful to our performance and cause.

One part of our performance that is unforgettable was when we went into the game room, which was male-dominated to hand out fortune cookies and zines, we came across a group of ignorant boys (in my opinion) who we asked if they would like any fortune cookies and they quickly responded NO. They barely looked up at us when we spoke, they barely interacted and seemed focus on their game of pool. This particular event was a bit disheartening because our social issue is a very significant problem in our society and all students who attend city tech are part of a community, showing support and regards to fellow peers can help make changes and remind each other that we support one another. I wouldn’t like to describe myself as entitled of their attention and support but their respect would have shown some morale.

Nakeita

After we approached the first table and adjusted our method, I felt that we quickly fell into the roles which were more comfortable for making the performance work.

I felt as though once we found our rhythm as a team, we were able to politely interrupt people to share information about why we were there. I was happy that we even got people to get out of their comfort zones to take pictures in the frame. The team morale picked up and it was clear that we were on a mission. While handing out zines, I hoped that people would actually take a moment, even if later, to read them or maybe even share them with friends.

Ivana

The reality of the performance was that not everyone was open for discussion or interested in knowing about women being underpaid as opposed to a male in the same field. For the performance, we had to get out of our comfort zone and approach people to hand out fortune cookies, zines and fake money about women in STEM. I’m not usually one to be comfortable going up to strangers and getting their attention, so this was a different experience for me. Approaching people was actually more difficult than I had imagined. I didn’t want to disturb students who were doing their work or seemed to not want to be bothered. That was the outcome when we approached some individuals.

During the performance, I noticed a few students had their headphones in or working on their laptops in the cafeteria, so I felt as if I were to invade their space giving them handouts. I knew approaching people and letting them know about the gender wage gap was a significant factor in our performance.

How did you feel after the performance?

Gregona

I wished there were more females around but the situation proved our hypothesis that STEM is predominantly a male-dominated industry and that women in the field get discriminated against. Overall, I believe our performance was a success as some of the feedback we got was encouraging. The males who agreed to the pictures showed that there were men who will support the cause.

Danielle

I expected this performance to be more positive and successful, however, it turned out to be awkward at times and us just ranting about things people may forget about within a few minutes.

Nakeita

After the performance, I felt that the group did well and was successful. I was proud that we achieved what we had set out to do and was relieved that it was over. I still hope that we made some kind of impact on the people we interacted with and they, in turn, passed on that interaction with their friends and family.

Ivana

After the first few times, my group members went up to people, I started to feel more comfortable. Most of the students that were around during the time we did our performance in the Vorhees cafeteria were male. We only saw or approached a few females, because there weren’t many females around. This goes to show how male-dominated the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are.