Monday afternoons in the dim fourth floor Wellness room are full of laughter, cookies, and most importantly, feminism.

After a rocky start, the Her Space affinity group — open to all woman-identifying students — now meets regularly as a group from all class levels to discuss issues facing women at St. Paul Academy and Summit School and in the greater community.

“I was really frustrated with the representation of girls in leadership this year at SPA. I was really frustrated with the way women’s rights were treated in classes,” senior co-president Sarah Little said, listing reasons she decided to start the group with senior Neerja Thakkar. “I figured other people had affinity groups where they could hang out and talk about this we need a place to hang out and talk about this because I just kept finding myself really frustrated in so many ways,” Little said.

In the mission statement, the group expresses its “hope to promote equality in the SPA community with emphasis on confidentiality, support, intersectionality, and non-judgement without ostracizing member of our community.”

While the group frequently discusses personal experiences with sexism, members are also working on a project to educate the SPA community about gender-based issues. Meetings take place on Mondays from 3:15-4:30 pm.