Elaine Hamel: Dismantling gender norms to uplift ‘Girls at Work’
March 21, 2022
MANCHESTER, NH –Arriving at the 200 Bedford St. mill building, I had no precursor of what to expect from the local non-profit hub that dedicates its namesake and its mission to empowering young girls. Upon walking in, I was immediately floored by the vastness of the space and the level of care and attention I could feel existed there. I was greeted by Elaine Hamel, the Founder and Program Leader of Girls at Work, who made me feel right at home despite the fact that I, too, was there to work.
Hamel talked me through the history of Girls at Work and gave me the inside view of why the organization is so important to girls, the culture, the community, and the industry. With their mission, “to challenge traditional norms and normalize girl power,” the non-profit focuses much of its resources on uplifting and supporting the inner-city girls right here at home in Manchester, though they do much work with outside districts and other Title 1 schools.
Girls at Work focuses much attention on giving young girls experience that will boost their confidence so they can perform at their best, academically and in their own lives, from an empowered place. Hamel stressed the importance of teaching girls early on what they are capable of and what connecting them to this mindset can do to change their lives for the better.
Hamel, as I learned in our time together, is a person who doesn’t take “no” for an answer in anything she does. Having been told no her whole life, from dropping out of college and knowing intuitively that her calling was not in academia, to taking her first steps toward Girls at Work. In the onset of her starting the organization, there were many naysayers who wanted her to believe she was crazy for trying to put power tools in young girls’ hands, but she never believed them.