Amelia thinks that people of all genders should be treated equally. She believs she can use her voice to end sex harassment and change inequalities in schools.
More needs to be done to tackle mental health in young people, according to one of the candidates for the Wales Youth Parliament.
Amelia Gibson believes that she can use her voice to change inequalities in youth groups. She is leading a campaign that strives to end sexual harassment in school, introduce better child mental health services and unisex bathrooms in education establishments.
“When I look around the world, I see lots of inequalities and lots of things that I disagree with, and I know that I have the power to make a change,” Amelia said.
As Welsh Youth Parliament is a platform for youth to amplify their voice. Amelia is passionate about politics, she reckons that engaging in it can make more influence.
“I really think it’s very important that all people in the society can be directly affected by politics. Since I found that I’ve established my campaign, and I know that I’ve got the power to make a change.” She said.
The 13-year-old girl is the youngest member of the Women Equality Party which is a non-partisan collaborative force in UK politics. In August, Amelia was on the guilty feminist podcast talking about what she had done in school council. The WEP got in touch with her and invited her to take part in WEP because they were interested in Amelia’s campaign and could support what she was doing.
“Sexual harassment in schools is such an important issue in this day. I definitely think there’s a certain culture around that sort of thing that needs to be dissolved and I think that we can do that with a better education in boys.”
“As for the mental health services for children at a moment in Wales and the UK, in general, is not enough. There can be 3 or 4 years waiting lists when you need help. Obviously, lots of people are suffering and lack of support. They just on multiple-year waiting lists.”
“Unisex toilets we’ve had a lot of backlash because of that. A lot of people are quite against the idea but I think on my poster it was phrased badly and what I want is three separate gendered bathrooms so that non-binary people can be able to pee.”
Her campaign also faces many challenges when they try to achieve those missions. “We have been having a lot of very nasty comments on Twitter, and I’ve been experiencing bullying in school because of it. People in school think we are weird.” Amelia mentioned.
“But I’m dealing with it and the school is really supportive. And I’m just hoping those people are going to get bored.” Amelia said.
Amelia’s campaign is still very active. “we’ve been campaigning, through my school, through social media, we’ve always been having a lot of support from the women quality party on social media as well. I’ve been going toward my theater groups and my extracurricular activities, and I’ve been handing out leaflets. And we’ve got a big poster in the window. And I’m encouraging all of my friends into the activities.”
In the future, Amelia will keep spreading a lot of equality awareness, finding the youth’s voices, and speaking for themselves.