STEPS Towards a more gender equal adult
Transcripción
STEPS Towards a more gender equal adult
STEPS TOWARDS A MORE GENDER EQUAL ADULT EDUCATION 1 "Taking part in this GIWHAT project has This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. made me a better person; not only by tackling gender issues Contributors to this publication and becoming more From Belgium aware of them, but Stefanie De Keersmaecker, Claudia Gaspard, Steven De Pourcq, Debra also by learning from DePryck, Karin Felix, Ira Bogaerts, Ilse Mertens, Koen DePryck, project partners and Hannelore Audenaert From Czech Republic sharing experiences. Dealing with gender Monika Drozdová, Martin Pokorný, Lucie Zormanová, Lukas Latal equality at adult From Finland Ann-Sofi Backgren, Anita Ismark, Caroline Westerdahl From Spain education is still necessary in Europe and I hope we have done our bit." Mari Fe Corpa Cuesta, Juan Ramón Duarte García, Josefina Durán Valle, David Fernández Ascacíbar, Isabel Fernández Otero, Vanessa González Cabañas, Jesús David Martín Álvarez, Mercedes Mateos García, Luis Ortega Martínez, María José Prieto Yagüe, Juan Sabe Andreu, Luis Antonio Sierra Gómez, Amparo Vicent López, María Villén Gómez From Turkey Tahsin Güneş, Bekir Kasapçopur, Ahmet Bülbül , Yavuz Özkan , Namık Bakir , Ayşe Yüce , Ali Ari, Ertan Göküş, Hüseyin Özveri Luis Antonio Sierra Spain 2 INHOUD 1) GI-WHAT | Gender Issues, Why Hide A Truth? .............................................................................. 4 2) GI-WHAT partners .......................................................................................................................... 6 3) About this document…………………………………………………….…………..………………………10 4) GI-WHAT workshops ....................................................................................................................... 11 Gender issues at work...................................................................................................................... 14 Culturally embedded gender issues ................................................................................................. 25 Gender issues in the social domain .................................................................................................. 27 Gender issues in education .............................................................................................................. 31 Gender-issues in family .................................................................................................................... 32 Final meeting in Çumra (Turkey), May 2013 ..................................................................................... 40 5) Gender issues in practice ................................................................................................................ 42 El Roto cartoons............................................................................................................................... 43 The World Upside Down .................................................................................................................. 47 Feminism or barbarism..................................................................................................................... 51 How come they said that? ................................................................................................................ 55 Learn the warning signs of abuse ..................................................................................................... 62 Bodies .............................................................................................................................................. 66 Household chores survey ................................................................................................................. 70 Basketball player fined not to dress feminine (newspaper article) ..................................................... 74 Young women under a gender equality “illusion” .............................................................................. 78 What if nobody cooked one day ....................................................................................................... 82 1-minute film contest ........................................................................................................................ 87 Survey Activity for Teachers ............................................................................................................. 94 Family Seminars .............................................................................................................................. 98 Family Visits and Surveys .............................................................................................................. 102 Typical man and typical woman...................................................................................................... 106 Gender issues and comics ............................................................................................................. 109 3 1) GI-WHAT | GENDER ISSUES, WHY HIDE A TRUTH? GI-WHAT is guidance for teachers, That gender issues are real and should be addressed is, as such, not open for discussion. In December 2009, the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) opened its door in Vilnius. It was an opportunity for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Commissioner Vladimir Špidla to point out that “achieving more equality between women and men in Europe has been a key priority for the European Commission over the past five years” and to stress the importance of strengthen the “efforts to promote gender equality and fight discrimination across Europe over the coming years." It is one (important) thing to identify gender issues as a European priority, quite another to bring about changes in a complex, open and diverse society. This project is about the role of adult education in that context. Gender Issues – Why Hide A Truth (GI-WHAT) is a Grundtvig partnership established as an interdisciplinary effort to disentangle the complexity of gender issues throughout Europe; raise awareness and understanding of the different aspects of gender issues, including differences and similarities among the partners; formulate strategies to implement the results in adult education. managers and families to help how to implement the genderequality in education life. Thanks to GIWHAT, we had the best devices to solve problems in education area in our district. We have managed several things. It is believed that we live and work more equal. Now more Bringing about changes in gender related issues requires raising awareness, providing insights, and changing attitudes. Through its distinctive position as organizations for whom learning is core business, adult education can be a privileged catalyst. They also have a unique access to a large and diverse part of the population and have the knowhow to work. Bringing formal and informal learning about gender issues within the scope of adult education at large was the rationale for setting up the project. equal opportunities welcome our students in Çumra. Based on their experience and context, the partners from Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Spain and Turkey have identified 5 general areas in which gender issues exist and in which Adult Education could make a difference: 1. Gender issues related to work and the work place; 2. Gender issues in education; 3. Gender issues in the social domain; 4. Gender issues in families; 5. Culturally embedded gender issues. Yavuz Özkan Turkey 4 Through a series of workshops, each one focusing on one specific domain, organised during project meetings in different countries, the partnership has addressed these aspects of gender issues. Each workshop included a general framework, discussion of examples/good practice and the design of implementation strategies to address specific issues at hand in and through adult education in the different partner institutions. The publication ‘Steps towards a more gender-equal adult education’ contains an inventory of project meetings findings and activities carried out by the partners to encourage adult education teachers and managers throughout Europe to set up these activities themselves. = Koen DePryck Belgium 5 2) GI-WHAT PARTNERS 5 partners from Belgium, Czech Republic, Spain, Finland, Turkey 5 6 1) CVO Antwerpen (Belgium) www.cvoantwerpen.be Contact: Koen DePryck [email protected] CVO Antwerpen is an Adult Education Center with several campuses in and around the City of Antwerp in the Flemish region of Belgium. CVO Antwerpen is one of the largest centers for adult education certified and funded by the Flemish Government. It organizes more than 950 modular daytime and evening courses per year. These courses are clustered around: courses for immigrants (Dutch as a second language, ICT, other languages); formal Vocational Education and Training at the level of secondary education (Second Chance to Learn, potentially leading to a diploma of secondary education in the domains of general administration, welding and multimedia graphics); higher professional education (accounting, architectural draftsman, ICT); a range of language courses (Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish); entrepreneurial training courses, maritime training, welding courses, courses in application software and cooking. 2) Rovné příležitosti (Czech Republic) http://www.rovne-prilezitosti.cz/o-nas.html Contact: Martin Pokorny [email protected] Equal Chances is a non-profit organization, which was founded to support equal chances to all people who suffer by social inclusion. It is created by both men and women, who are a group of young, enthusiastic project managers and lectors, related to the Adult education centre. The main impulse to start working on the topic of equal opportunities was firstly the location and the historical background of the Moravian-Silesian region. This area has been for a very long time orientated mainly on the mining and heavy industry with all the ill effects on its population. Therefore, there were very little opportunities for a certain group of people – such as mothers, unemployed, ex criminals, handicapped, senior citizens or homeless. Equal chances provides education, assistance and guidelines to unequally treated and excluded citizens about their chances in the Moravian-Silesian Region. It collects and analyses data for the local government, develops tools and methodologies for integration of unequally treated citizens. Equal Chances works as an intermediary link between stakeholders and offers the practice, and transfer of innovative tools from abroad. 7 3) Centro de Educación de Personas Adultas ‘Ramón y Cajal’ (Spain) www.educa.madrid.org/web/cepa.parla Contact: Luis Antonio Sierra Gómez [email protected] CEPA Ramon y Cajal - School for Adults Ramon y Cajal - is located in Parla (Madrid). It has around 30 teachers and has about 1800 adult students enrolled. The education provided is divided in three different branches: on the one hand, formal education, that is, primary and secondary education to get the basic qualifications the Spanish educational system provides; on the other hand, vocational training funded by the European Union; and finally, there is a third layer known as 'education for the personal development of adult people' with courses on English language, IT, Spanish as a foreign language, photography, etc. The student population ranges from 18 years-old to senior citizens, although most of the students are within the segment of 18 and 40. It is important to highlight the number of immigrant students mainly involved in learning Spanish, although there is an important number enrolled in getting the secondary education certificate. Moreover, most of the students are under qualified because of their dropping-out when they were within the formal education system, or because they belong to the target group of not equally treated citizens with respect to gender, age or ethnical background. 4) The municipality and centre of adult education of Korsnäs (Finland) www.korsnas.fi Contact: Ann-Sofi Backgren [email protected] The municipality of Korsnäs is quite a small municipality on the countryside in the region of Ostrobothnia (western Finland). Together with the neighbour municipality of Malax, Korsnäs is maintaining the Adult Education Centre. The Adult Education Centre is arranging courses spread over the countryside in both municipalities of Korsnäs and Malax, in many villages. The Ostrobothnian region is a bilingual region and the language in the municipality of Kornsäs is for 88% Swedish, other languages are Finnish, and languages spoken by people coming from Bosnia, Estonia, Belarus, Vietnam, Burma (Myanmar). This means that the municipality of Korsnäs has 9.5% of its population coming from abroad (international). In order to promote the integration of these target groups the Adult Education Centre and other bodies in the municipality are doing a great job. We are also living long in this region (about 25% of the population in the municipality are more than 65 years old). The municipality and the Adult Education Centre are working with tissues for “the lifelong learning” in real. We arrange many senior courses, for example in computering. In the municipality decision-making and administrative body women have quite a strong impact. Women issues and power have been discussed for several years. 8 5) Çumra Ilçe Milli Eğitim Müdürlüğü (Turkey) http://cumra.meb.gov.tr Contact: Yavuz Özkan [email protected] Çumra District Directorate of National Education is a state institution in charge with the planning and coordinator of all kinds of educational and training activities in pre-school, primary, secondary and adult education in Çumra District. Our Directorate includes non-formal education, apprenticeship and Vocational Technical Education, research planning and statics, public relations, etc. The institution is responsible for teachers our of staff, students, primary and high school. Our vision is to be a qualified, prominent institution that has reached the level to compete equivalent institutions in Turkey and in modern countries with ensuring authentic contribution to the development of Turkish National Education System by providing effective usage of knowledge, skill, value and technology required in the knowledge era. Our mission is to ensure to boost efficiency and productivity of associated institutions and of employees and pleasure of worker and service field; To improve and implement laws and other regulations through the general goals and fundamental principles of National Education System in Çumra district. Çumra District Directorate of National Education wanted to be part of GI-WHAT To enhance the European dimension of education in their organization by promoting joint co-operation activities with institutions from different European countries: To give administrators and teachers an opportunity to work together with learners and teachers from different countries: To help administrators and teachers to acquire and improve skills not only in the topic of ‘Genders Issues’ but also in terms of teamwork, social relations, planning and undertaking project activities and using information and participating in a partnership with partners from communication technology and also share tour experiences about gender issues from the point of Çumra District Directorate of National Education: To give administrators and teachers the opportunity to practice foreign languages and increase their motivation towards language learning: To exchange experiences and good practices with partner organisations in Europe. 9 3) ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT 2 years, that is how long the GI-WHAT project partners worked together on the topic of gender issues. 2 years … a lot of time to gain experience on a specific topic. And as one of the goals of GI-WHAT is to raise awareness and understanding of the different aspects of gender issues throughout Europe, the document you are going through now , is meant for teachers in adult education throughout Europe to get started themselves. This document contains a lot of information and inspiration for you to contribute to a more gender equal Europe. “Gender issues are You will find different post-its throughout this document with golden tips on them. Chapter 5 ‘gender issues in practice’ gives your all the practical information you need to implement gender related activities with your students. department, director … The GI-WHAT partners hope you will enjoy this document! something from the past? Not according to our teachers, student counselors, heads of GI-WHAT has been a successful way of raising awareness of these gender issues in our center for adult education. CVO Antwerpen is now a more gender friendly learning environment, thanks to GI-WHAT. Hannelore Audenaert 10 Belgium 4) GI-WHAT WORKSHOPS Gender issues at work Kickoff meeting in Antwerp (Belgium), November 2011 “Being part of GIWHAT has had a tremendous impact on my views about inequality issues and has helped me to raise The GI-WHAT kickoff meeting was held in Antwerp (BE) from 8 to 11 November 2011. Main goal of this partner meeting was to get to know the other partner organisations and partners and to plan the overall project by discussing the working method and the deliverables. Also the first workshop ‘gender issues at work’ was organised during this meeting. awareness on this First day was mainly set up introduce our partner organisations to each other and to discuss overall project management (fixing meeting dates, discussing the different deliverables, agreeing on a working method …). Parla and my topic. Sharing ideas with my colleagues and my students in European partners has made me realize that we can do From Belgium? Check out www.femco.be! The workshop ‘gender issues at work’ was held on the second and final day of the project meeting in Antwerp. It was led by Michele Mees from The Centre for Balanced Leadership (www.femco.be) which opts for a hands-on and integrated approach, combining top down and bottom up activities to achieve superior personal and business performance. something to reach one day to equal relations between man and women when gender issues will not be an issue anymore.” They intend to bridge the knowing-doing gap by 1. Putting balanced leadership and gender balance on the strategic agenda 2. Working with executive teams to define the outline of a balanced organization 3. Driving cultural change 4. Developing balanced leadership skills of men, women and mixed teams 5. Increasing gender intelligence of managers 6. Empowering women in leadership positions 7. Offering female leaders access to our alumni network (FRESH) Juan Sabe Andreu Spain 11 CONTENT OF THE WORKSHOP 12 Why not discuss these figures with your students? 13 14 15 16 17 18 During the day we had several group discussions. The goal was to find out more about the differences between the different countries. After every discussion the moderator showed us some facts and figures on the theme. DISCUSSION 1: WHAT DO YOU PERCEIVE AS BEING GENDER ISSUES AND GENDER PROBLEMS TODAY, FROM YOUR LOCAL PERSPECTIVE, FOR STUDENTS AND STAFF? Results of the discussion Finland Can you relate to these conclusions? Spain Students - Girls choose traditional jobs and studies - Need for more mingled workplaces In education/society - Some working places are more traditional for men or women - In education it’s equally divided, but the headmaster is usually a man (higher salary). - More women choose for caring and teaching jobs. - Today, women have more important jobs in politics and industry. But in the big companies there are still more men at the top of the company. - The Finish president is a woman. Two ministers are women. Also in the military we can find women and even some female priest. Students - Some young immigrants don’t respect women (female teachers), don’t recognize their authority. - Some men don’t want their wife to come to school. - Some young students show male-chauvinist attitudes to their girlfriends. In education/society - Male teachers usually have less discipline problems than female ones. - Respect is given for granted to men and needs to be conquered by women. Czech Republic Students - Male teachers prefer girl students (sexual harassment). - Girls have to choose between having a family and a good career. - Mainly girls are studying at universities. 19 Turkey In education/society - Difference in salary between male and female teachers. - Women can’t do the same job as men (for instance president). Students - Parents think girls don’t have to go to school in rural areas. They better get married young. Boys have to go to school because they will be responsible for their family later on. - Some groups keep girls at home to keep them protected (extreme-religious communities). - Some women stop working because of the workload in combination with children and family. - If women want, they can have the education they choose. In education/society - Women have to prove themselves, otherwise men won’t take them seriously. - Less women as driver (ambulances, busses, tram). - When parents die, girls get 1% boys 2%. Reason: when they get married they get the 2% of their husband. Belgium Students: - Women are less flexible when they have children. They are most of the time responsible for childcare. - IT-education is more chosen by man. Women choose more traditional education. In education/society - Less flexibility for women when they have children. - More male teachers in IT-education. - Jobs in education offer more flexibility towards women and career opportunities. Men and women earn the same salary. In the private sector salaries can differ in every organization depending on the agreements you made with the boss. 20 DISCUSSION 2: SOME FACTS AND FIGURES FROM EUROPE Thoughts based on the presentation of some facts and figures (see above): The employment rate in Finland is about the same for men and women. On average women in the EU earn less than men. Perhaps men are better negotiators when they apply for a job than women? “Education is considered to be the In Norway, companies are obliged to have 40% women on boards. most valuable It is not because more women are leaving university that they also take management jobs. possession for every What type of companies are more likely to fill in management jobs by men? Large companies with a large number of positions and a formal promotion policy are more likely to recruit male job applicants. A lot of companies answer to this criteria. With the help of GI- Why are women leaving corporate environments? They leave when they are not taken seriously, when their contributions are not recognized, when they feel excluded from training opportunities and informal networks and when they faced inhospitable corporate cultures. people are aware of In order to tackle that gender difference European companies set up some programs for better gender balance. GI-WHAT. “ Do you think it is a good idea to have fixed quota like in Norway? - human being today. WHAT we have managed many things. Now, we believe more gender issues in Çumra. Thanks to Best people (= men and woman with best potentials and talent) Over 80% are taken by women (so it’s more difficult to have a company that has only men in management jobs). What can go wrong when addressing gender balance? - - Lack of leadership commitment. You need commitment of people in leadership. Lack of awareness. If you are a manager it’s more easy to work with people that are just like you. It’s difficult to manage a diverse group of people. Discriminatory attitude or behaviour among staff. Lack of resources. Namik Bakir Turkey 21 DISCUSSION 3: WHAT DO YOU PERCEIVE AS BEING BARRIERS IN ADDRESSING THE GENDER ISSUES FOR STUDENTS AND STAFF? WHAT WILL BE THE DIFFICULTIES THAT YOU WILL/MIGHT FACE? Results of the discussion Financial barriers: in Spain there’s a huge financial crisis. So they are cutting in extra hours. Teachers are not obliged to talk about gender issues in class room. It’s not in the curriculum. Calling yourself a feminist has a negative connotation in some countries. Immigrants bring new problems along with them (gender issues related to religion). Balance of men and women in organizations is different for every organization. Lack of spokesperson when people are confronted with a problem related to gender in an organization. - It’s hard to change attitudes and perceptions? - School management doesn’t always see the problem. - Invisibility of the gender issues (is there a problem?). - Difficulty in solving the problem (what can we do?). - Many typical symbols in daily life are gender related. How to draw the - Are gender roles always gender issues. Women have been taking care of children for ages, men have supported their line between families for ages. Should we not let a man be a man and a gender issues and woman a woman? - gender roles? Conclusion Financial barriers. Government needs to foresee some kind of budget. The problem is not always recognized. Every individual has masculine and feminine qualities, but we don’t value every pole as much as the other. Gender balance is about balancing those masculine and feminine values in a group. You have to start with making people aware if you want to change something. 22 DISCUSSION 4: WHAT DO YOU PERCEIVE AS BEING OPPORTUNITIES IN ADDRESSING GENDER ISSUES FOR STUDENTS AND STAFF? HOW CAN YOU HAVE AN IMPACT? Results of the discussion Students - ‘Working together with Give information, teach your students about the politics and history, how some rights have been achieved. On European level: charters: the European Union takes good actions, but how can we implement it (search for good methods)? Teach our children at home how to behave gender balanced by for example role-plays and changing the gender in these plays (boys have to act as girls and girls as boys) and have a discussion afterwards or by making a movie about what it means to be a man or a woman (interviews). partners from all over Europe was fantastic. By visiting them we got a better idea of gender issues in other countries and cultures and how they deal with it. GI-WHAT made us also Staff - more aware of gender Short courses in gender issues: information about the issues in classrooms(facts) and how to deal with them. Students and staff How would your issues in our own organization, CVO Antwerpen. The 1-minute - Special days can be organised to set up events that pay attention to gender issues. film contest allowed us to bring the topic of this project to the whole school, in an employer feel about informal way. organising short It’s clear for us that we have workshops on to continue working on it! gender issues? Our European partners gave us lots of inspiration for that.’ Belgium 23 Stefanie De Keersmaecker 24 Culturally embedded gender issues Meeting in Madrid (Spain), May 2012 The second GI-What project meeting was held in Madrid and Parla between May 13th and 16th 2012. The first meeting day, May 14th, took place at CEPA "Ramón y Cajal" in Parla where the topic "Culturally embedded gender issues" was discussed at a workshop led by María Montero Monferrer. There was another meeting in the afternoon in order to evaluate the progress of the project. The following day, May 15th, the meeting was held in Madrid, at Tierra de Fuego bookshop, where partners spent the morning trying to develop strategies and activities related to the meeting topic which could be put into practice at their respective institutions. These were later evaluated by our expert, María Montero Monferrer. Moreover, partners enjoyed a guided tour at an exhibition related to gender issues (100 years in feminine). “Schools make up the biggest part of public bodies. And also they have a crucial role to ensure that girls and boys benefit from th MONDAY, MAY 14 2012 equal opportunities in Our workshop was led by María Montero Monferrer, social worker and partner of H2A, a firm specialized in gender. all areas of life. Her presentation started by explaining the terms “sex, gender, gender social roles and patriarchy”. In a nutshell, the ideas behind these terms are the following: - Sex is a biological category given by genetics and involves the idea of difference. - Gender is a social, cultural and historical category. It can be changed and introduces the idea of inequality inside a patriarchy. - Gender social role defines what society expects from people depending on being a man or a woman. - Patriarchy is a social system where men organize society and females are subordinated. Then, she talked about Sex and Gender Theory, which is closely linked to cultural influence. Culture will use different socialization processes to make this possible. Thereby, men assume certain social roles (protection, p.eg) and women others (sentimentality, p.eg.). Sex and gender theories have placed men in the public sphere and women in the private one. All these notions are directly related to the existence of stereotypes themselves. In order to break traditional gender theories, women don’t have to “look like” men or vice versa, the important thing is equality, to give value to every aspect of life. Thanks to GI-WHAT, it really helps us to do what we want.” Ayşe Yüce Turkey 25 The next step was talking about stereotypes, the actual focus of our meeting. In order to understand them better, the stories of Little Red Riding Hood and Little Thumb illustrate what we mean about culturally embedded gender stereotypes. The different characters (Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf, the hunter, the grandmother) represent socially accepted behaviours which people assume as "natural". So, stereotypes are, then, popular beliefs about individuals based on assumptions. They are ideas: “Everybody who is … does or has …” They lead to prejudices, that is, preconceived judgment towards people based on stereotypes. It could be positive or negative. And they may take to discrimination, which is a non egalitarian treatment of an individual based on his/her membership. It can also lead to violence. So, in order to finish with these issues, gender focus is needed. This way, situations may be analysed taking into account the existence of gender social roles and stereotypes. At the end of the session, partners were asked to think about activities and/or methodologies where they would: - Identify the different starting point between women and men in a specific situation from a quantitative point of view. - Identify the reason of quantitative differences from a qualitative point of view. - Evaluate the differences found by acknowledging if men or women opportunities are being restricted, in that specific situation, in benefit of the other group. 26 27 Gender issues in the social domain Meeting in Korsnas (Finland), June 2012 Workshop with diversity consultant Malin Gustavsson, Ekvalita Ab Malin Gustavsson lead the workshop about gender equality in social work focusing on norms. Privilege walk The workshop started with an exercise where everybody changed identity for a while. Everyone received a piece of paper with a short description of a person on it (white men, 34 years old, lives in central London, works as an accountant, is gay). Due to statements as “I feel my culture, language and religion is gaining respect in the place I live” or “I came to this meeting without considering there might be stairs to get into the room” one take on step forward if it would be a statement that suits your “role”. After 10 statements everyone was on a different position in the room and there was an open discussion about the feelings, thoughts and ideas the exercise created. Heteronormativity Gustavsson then introduced the participants how to broaden ideas of sex and gender. This was done through a four-corner exercise by questionning: how can we understand gender? One corner in the room represented an answer 1. 2. 3. 4. Body gender Mental gender: how we think about ourselves Social (and cultural) gender: how people see me Open corner People talked in small groups and then discussed every “theme corner” separately: Do you think gender issues in social life decrease when getting older? 1. We have expectations towards body gender, especially with youth (should I shave my legs, should I have long hair?) Genitals intersexual, x and y chromosome (Y is disappearing, some people have only x/y), levels of chromosome and oestrogen (sport, women with too much oestrogen). 2. Mental gender: you can feel less female than you are for example intersexual people (a man trapped Ann-Sofi Backgren, Finland 28 inside a females body). In Finland people can get a free operation to adjust themselves to their mental gender. Our experience of our sex/gender: the absence of experienced sex/gender, a stand between, both, or beyond traditional gender role. In Finland: companies with more 30 persons have to make efforts for gender equality (gender equality law) + in the near future: companies have transsexuals comfortable in the working place. 6 months maternity leave for dads. What do you think? 3. Social and cultural gender: characteristics and abilities that our societies connects to men and women. Different in time and space. (body and clothes, dresses in the Arabic world) For example, 2 men holding hands in Finland would be gay vs. in Nepal this means they are best friends. Finland: mother leave is 9 month discussions about: 6 months for the mother, 6 months for the father, 6 months which the couple can chose who uses it. This will help gender equality enormously. In Iceland this is already implemented (with 3+3 +3 months). 29 30 Gender issues in education Meeting in Ostrava (Czech Republic), October 2012 Workshop lead by PaedDr. Lucie Zormanová,Ph.D, Equal Opportunities, Ostrava At first, a short lecture about the status of women in Czech Republic and their equal or unequal position compared with men, was given. This was followed by a workshop during which the participants resolved the gender stereotypes in society and especially into the sphere of education and training. One example of the tasks was to draw a mind map of typical characteristics that national society assigns to women and men. All groups presented their work and discussed it with other countries, admitting that they are mere stereotypes prevailing in society and not the real properties of real men and women. Another activity held was a discussion during which the national teams introduced the other countries to the problems occurring in their schools in terms of gender. The representative of Spain for example, described some of the problems with Arab girls in their school. The problem was that these girls do not want to be taught by a male teacher. Some solutions were discussed upon. First, it might be possible to organise special classes for Arab girls with a female teacher. However, for many participants it seemed like a step back. Furthermore, it was suggested to familiarize Arab girls with equal opportunities issues through workshops and invite their family as well. The next day the participants of the workshop were invited to the Ostrava private primary schools Monty School, where all subjects are taught in English. Local teachers and the teachers from other European countries painted their ideal classroom together with the students They then analysed these images in order to find out the gender stereotypes. “Being a member of this project has helped my personal growth and made me think about what being a woman means in society these times; I have also become more aware of inequalities. GI-WHAT? has widened my professional and personal knowledge mainly due to working with people from different countries within their own local contexts. This gender issues project has finally tightened my work with local partners, too. I have shared with them, Luis Antonio Sierra and Juan Sabe, ideas, hopes but, above all, willingness to keep on working with our students on gender equality and prevention of gender violence.” Isabel Fernandez Otero, 31 Spain Gender-issues in family Meeting in Madrid (Spain), March 2013 The meeting took place at “Tierra de Fuego” bookshop in Madrid. It was developed as follows. “Working actively on the theme of this project GI-WHAT Morning session made us all aware that During the morning, all partners presented the activities they had developed at home regarding the topic we were dealing at this meeting. Thus, the Belgian team’s starting point was that statistics demonstrate that there is a real need to deal with gender issues and family in their country. 1/5 of younger adults in Ghent and Antwerp feel that in their future life women should stay home to do the household and men should go to work. In order to deal with it they are organizing a film contest: participants will make a one-minute movie with their own tablets or phones. It is also open for people outside CVO Antwerpen. There will be prices (250€, 150€ and 50€) and the judges will be the CVO staff participating at GI-WHAT and the director plus a famous Belgian film director. these are problems of all times and all people. I learned a lot by looking over the borders, working together and sharing information. For me it’s clear that this can’t be the end, but the beginning of a good way to work on gender issues.” Poster film competition Ilse Mertens Belgium 32 Among other activities, our Belgian partners also bought an interactive DVD game ‘Princess and Players’ on specific gender situations where students have to reflect and think on them. This DVD has been developed by Ella vzw (www.ellavzw.be). They have also done an activity, “Advantages of being a woman and a man”. This picture shows the teacher who lead the activity in front of the results. This activity can be found in this publication. Finally, their proposal for the GI-WHAT team was to work with comics and reflecting family and gender situations through www.pixton.com as making a short movie (cf. film competition) would take too much time. The presentation showed by the Czech team was prepared by an expert who collaborates with them in this project. One of the conclusions of the presentation was that the EU gives directions with regards to gender equality and there are also measures by the Czech government that support women when they have children and also favour professional and parental roles. There are organizations and NGOs which work on gender equality as it is the case with our Czech partners. Their main aim is to empower women to become more independent within a very chauvinist and slowly changing context. They proposed two activities which had been developed with primary school children: 33 1.- Demonstrate the situation of gender discrimination: 1. We split up into groups. “Promoting equality is 2. Group devises a scene in which there is gender discrimination. generally seen to be 3. Women playing male roles and men playing women roles. part of the work of 4. Demonstrate the scenes. schools and other 5. After playing scenes follows a discussion – we discuss why this discrimination arises and how we could prevent or solve it. educational bodies. Here with the help of 2.- Childhood Memories: GI-WHAT we got - This activity is led by a teaching story. some ideas for why - We recall a situation in which you have behaved unconventionally gendered, that is not in accordance with prevailing gender stereotypes in your society. this might be and - At the same time do not forget to describe the reaction of others on your behaviour. some practice ideas for strategies to promote gender equality in our district. Our Finnish team connected family and gender issues with children education and showed us a series of materials related to breaking gender stereotypes which are used in Finland, as well as a web page where teachers can go to learn methodology related to gender issues. It has been a great pleasure to be in GIWHAT.” The Spanish partners showed an activity which they have already developed at their school and has worked very well within their context. This activity consists of a survey about house chores and who makes them. After students fill in the questionnaire and results are written down on the board, a debate starts where pupils reflect on the data and get to conclusions which should change their behaviour with respect to their role with their families and at home. The Turkish team presentation of activities was very illustrative of the compromises they acquired last year, most of which have been met. In order to do so, they have developed a complete program of activities in different fields. They made posters that were spread throughout their school district. They also prepared hand outs, gave seminars to teachers, students and families so that everybody was aware of their work and their aims. They also organized family visits in order to make their components aware of gender issues. They visited schools and gave workshops. Ahmet Bülbül Turkey 34 Moreover, they prepared surveys for teachers, students and families which were analysed and commented at their presentation. Among the conclusions they got were the following: - Traditions are very strong in a rural area like Çumra. - The results of their survey may reflect different situations and ways of thinking with respect to the other partners of the project. - In the next future and in order to increase gender awareness they will inform authorities so that they can also participate and collaborate with them. People may enter the process of equality, but before they have to raise awareness. They may meet some problems like pre-established ideas. In order to mitigate them they will organize festivals which break with traditionally assigned roles (both for men and women), then talk about it. Among these activities there will contests where traditional gender roles will be changes. For example, there will be a cooking contest for men. Afternoon session The second part of the day was devoted to putting family and gender issues activities into practice. We were divided in four groups and each of them made a comic story about family and gender issues. The results were presented and evaluated. The general feeling was that this “pixton” tool (www.pixton.com/) can be very useful for everyone in order to keep on working on raising awareness of gender issues. Anita Ismark Finland 35 Want to make one with your students? Go to chapter 5 and read how! 36 37 38 39 “Gender issues in Final meeting in Çumra (Turkey), May 2013 education in Czech Republic, especially in The final meeting focused on developing a common public part for the final report of GI-WHAT by working into smaller groups. On the second day of the meeting, after having met the Turkish staff involved in the project in çumra, the project team finalized the common public part and evaluated the project between the partners. Every partner country was asked to reflect on some topics and come up with questions they felt would be interesting to ask to the other partners. The afternoon was spent on visiting the Çumra Anatolian High School where the partners visited the drawing exhibition set up by the students of the school. We also had the chance to talk to students about their future career preferences and the way they experience gender issues in their day to day life. our Moravian-Silesian region became during 2 project years more important topic. We think that through our activities we helped to more equal society.” The meeting in Turkey was the perfect closure to a more than interesting project! Monika Drozdová Martin Pokorný Lucie Zormanová Czech Republic 40 41 5) GENDER ISSUES IN PRACTICE On the next pages the partners of GI-WHAT listed their activities and tips for other centres for adult education wishing to work on gender issues. We have indicated how these activities fit in the European Charter for Equality of Women and Men in Local Life and how they are best implemented. The European Charter for Equality of Women and Men in Local Life (2006) is addressed to the local and regional governments of Europe, who are invited to sign it, to make a formal public commitment to the principle of equality of women and men, and to implement, within their territory, the commitments set out within the Charter. “Thanks to GI-WHAT, Article 13 – Education and Lifelong Learning happening. Gender – (1) The Signatory recognises the right to education for everyone, and further recognizes the right of access for all to vocational and continuing training. The Signatory recognises the vital role of education, at all stages of life, in delivering true equality of opportunity, in providing essential life and employment skills, and in opening up new possibilities for professional and vocational development. (2) The Signatory undertakes, within the range of its competences, to secure or promote equal access to education and vocational and continuing training for women and men, girls and boys. good things are Issues are known by the participants and the citizens living in our district. We established a more gender-friendly environment in our (3) The Signatory recognises the need to eliminate any stereotyped concept of the roles of women and men in all forms of education. In order to do this it undertakes to carry out or promote, as appropriate, the following measures: schools and social environment.” The revision of educational materials, of school and other educational programmes and teaching methods, to ensure that they combat stereotypical attitudes and practices. The undertaking of specific actions to encourage non-traditional career choices. The specific inclusion, within courses of civic education and education for citizenship, of elements that emphasize the importance of the equal participation of women and men in the democratic processes. (4) The Signatory recognises that the ways in which schools and other educational establishments are governed represents important models for children and young people. It therefore undertakes to promote the balanced representation of women and men at all levels of school management and governance. Tahsin Günes 42 Turkey El Roto cartoons Practiced in: CEPA Ramón y Cajal, Parla (Madrid) Target group of this activity: Beginners education, Secondary education (levels 1 and 2) and NVQ courses. Number of people which can be involved in the activity: 20-25 students in each level group. Duration of the activity: 1 hour approximately. Description of the activity Give a general description of the activity. With these two cartoons showing stereotypical women’s roles we are trying to prompt some kind of challenging ideas among the students. This will generate a discussion and reflection on how these roles are changing (or should be changing) nowadays in our society. Preparation Materials needed in order to do this activity: copies of the cartoons and blackboard. How to prepare yourself for this activity: make sure there are enough copies of the cartoons for all the class. This activity could be first discussed in small groups and then each group should share the main ideas that came up with the rest of the class. How to prepare the learners/people involved in the activity: Once we have split them up into groups and give out the cartoon copies, we can also write down three or four questions on the blackboard to guide discussion. Things to take into account when preparing the activity: We should give students no more than twenty minutes to discuss these cartoons in groups so that they have time to listen to the other groups’ ideas. Doing the activity How to bring the activity into practice? - Split the class into several groups (4 or 5 students each). Give out the copies of the two cartoons. Write down some questions to prompt discussion on the blackboard. Time group debate (15-20 min.) Share the ideas that have come up in the group with the whole class. Things to take into account when bringing the activity into practice: Being such a visual activity, teachers won’t find many difficulties in terms of language barriers with lower level students. 43 Many different ideas may arise regarding women’s roles in our society. The teacher must moderate the debate in order to make sure that everyone has a saying and they all respect each other’s opinions. Appreciation How did the project partner experience this activity? What are the advantages? Were there any disadvantages? In general, similar ideas came up in all group levels. Some students from the lower groups found it hard to understand the irony of the first cartoon. But most of secondary and NVQ groups understood the irony behind it. The cartoons were very powerful in terms of transmitting certain stereotypes so students could discuss and challenge these ideas without much input from the teacher, who acts as a mere observer. The European charter for Equality This activity fits under the following actions of the European Charter: ☒Secure or promote equal access to education and vocational and continuing training for women and men, girls and boys. Eliminate any stereotyped concept of the roles of women and men in all forms of education (3 subactions). ☒The revision of educational materials, of school and other educational programmes and teaching methods, to ensure that they combat stereotypical attitudes and practices. ☒The undertaking of specific actions to encourage non-traditional career choices. ☐The specific inclusion, within courses of civic education and education for citizenship, of elements that emphasize the importance of the equal participation of women and men in the democratic processes. ☐Promote the balanced representation of women and men at all levels of school management and governance. 44 Attachments 1. Attachment 1: TEXT: Men have to earn more than women so that we can buy you flowers // You’re so kind! 45 2. Attachment 2: TEXT: When I said I didn’t want to have children, they censured me … and when I said I was going to have a baby, they sacked me. 46 The World Upside Down Practiced in: CEPA Ramón y Cajal, Parla (Madrid). Target group of this activity: Beginners education, Secondary education (level 2) and NVQ courses. Number of people which can be involved in the activity: 20-25 students in each level group. Duration of the activity: 1 hour approximately. Description of the activity Give a general description of the activity. With this dialogue, we are trying to make the participants aware of the difficulties women have to go through when having job interviews, as well as analysing how stereotypes work in staff recruitment processes. The dialogue will prompt a debate about whether or not there is discrimination towards women in the working world (recruitment, salary, etc.), and it will also allow students to reflect on how to avoid this discrimination (if there is any). Preparation Materials needed in order to do this activity: photocopies of the case and blackboard. How to prepare yourself for this activity: Beginners’ level – Due to the complexity of the text, the teacher working with this group adapted the text into a simpler version so that all students could understand it and participate in the debate. Secondary Education (level 2) – The teachers working with these groups prepare a few questions beforehand to prompt reflection among the students: 1. What problems does this situation show regarding female recruitment? 2. How do you think they could be solved? 3. Are there any other types of discrimination in the working world? These questions were discussed in groups or as a whole class activity in some groups, whereas it was done individually as a written questionnaire in others. NVQ courses – These groups took on the job interview idea and played out their own dramatization of different situations given at a job interview. It turned into a role-play exercise which also equipped students with a series of strategies to face any future recruitment process successfully. How to prepare the learners/people involved in the activity: Due to the clear message of the dialogue, an initial reading or dramatization of the interview by the whole class will be powerful enough to initiate a discussion, either in small groups or as a whole class 47 activity. Nevertheless, there are some groups in which the questions given by the teacher can help them shape many of the ideas that may arise. Things to take into account when preparing the activity: At beginners’ level it is difficult to work with such a complex text. However, it can also be used as a comprehension exercise and expanded into some other activities related to the same topic (see attachment 2). Doing the activity How to bring the activity into practice? As it has been explained previously, the activity was brought into practice differently according to the group levels and teachers carrying it out. Things to take into account when bringing the activity into practice: While the debate takes place teachers must assume the role of moderator allowing students to express their opinion, but also promoting respect towards each other by listening to others and waiting for their turn to talk so that everyone can be heard. Appreciation How did the project partner experience this activity? What are the advantages? Were there any disadvantages? The activity was proved to be a very successful and productive one at all levels. One of the main advantages of this activity is that it gave teachers the possibility of taking it further to other related activities, such as the job interview role-plays or the language comprehension one. The European charter for Equality This activity fits under the following actions of the European Charter: ☒Secure or promote equal access to education and vocational and continuing training for women and men, girls and boys. Eliminate any stereotyped concept of the roles of women and men in all forms of education (3 subactions). ☐The revision of educational materials, of school and other educational programmes and teaching methods, to ensure that they combat stereotypical attitudes and practices. ☐The undertaking of specific actions to encourage non-traditional career choices. ☒The specific inclusion, within courses of civic education and education for citizenship, of elements that emphasize the importance of the equal participation of women and men in the democratic processes. ☒Promote the balanced representation of women and men at all levels of school management and governance. 48 Attachments Attachment 1: Worksheet – “The World Upside Down” (English) - - - - I come for the ad, Madam. Al right, the human resources manager says. Take a seat, please. What’s your name? Bernardo… Married or single? Married Can I have your full name? Bernardo Delgado, Mrs Perez’s husband. I must inform you, Mr Bernardo, that currently, our management prefers not to hire married men. At Miss Moreno department, the one we are working for, there are several people on paternity leave. It is legitimate for young couples the wish to have children (our company that manufactures baby clothing encourages them to have children), but the absence of prospective parents poses a serious obstacle to the progress of a business. I understand Madam , but we already have two children and do not want to have any other. Besides ( the married man blushes and whispers: I’m taking the pill) Right, let’s continue then, what have you studied? I have the school certificate and the first degree of vocational training as an administrative. I wish I could have finished my baccalaureate, but we were four in my family, and my parents gave priority to the girls , which is very normal. I have a sister who is a colonel and another sister is a mechanic. What have you been working in lately? Basically doing substitutions, that way I could have some free time to take care of the children while they were so young. What´s your wife’s profession? She’s a manager in a steel erection company. But she’s studying to become an engineer, as in the near future she’ll have to replace her mother, who is the one that opened the business. Back to you, which are your economic claims? Well… Obviously, considering your wife position and her future perspectives, you’ll be looking for a complementary salary, won’t you? A few euros for your personal expenses, as every man aspires to have, pocket money for your cravings, your suits. o We can offer you 300 euros as starting salary, and extra pay and an assiduity bonus. Please, notice this point, Mrs Perez’s husband, assiduity is absolutely essential in every post. Our chief manager had to create the assiduity bonus to encourage the staff not to miss the job. Thanks to this, we have been able to reduce the male absenteeism by half, however, certain men have problems with absenteeism. There are men missing on the pretext that the child coughs or there is a strike at school. How old are your children? The girl is six and the boy is four. They go to school and I pick them up in the afternoon when I leave work , before I go to the grocery store 49 - What if they get ill ? Have you got something planned for that case? His grandpa can take care of them, he lives close. That’s all, Mrs Perez’s husband, we’ll let you know what our final decision is in a few days. Mrs Perez’s husband left the office full of hope. The human resources manager looked at him as he left. His legs were short, his back a little bit bowed, and there was very little hair left on his head. “ Ms Moreno just hates bald men” remembered the recruitment manager. And beside she had told her “rather tall, fair hair, good looking and single”. And Ms Moreno will be the team manager next year. Bernardo Delgado, Mrs Perez’s husband , got a letter three days later starting this way: We regret to inform you… From “One look, another one”, by Aguas Vivas Catala and Enriqueta Garcia Pascual. - Aims : Make the participants aware of the difficulties women had to go through when having job interviews. To study how stereotypes work in staff recruitment processes. Required time for the activity: 1 hour, approximately. Material needed: photocopies of the case and blackboard. 50 Feminism or barbarism Practiced in: CEPA “RAMÓN Y CAJAL”, PARLA (MADRID – SPAIN) Target group of this activity: Beginners education, Secondary education (levels 1 and 2) and NVQ courses. Number of people which can be involved in the activity: 20-25 students in each level group. Duration of the activity: 1 hour approximately. Description of the activity Give a general description of the activity: This newspaper article is aimed at making students aware of the influence that different religions all over the world have had on gender equality throughout History and how they still favour discrimination against women due to their patriarchal roots. Preparation Materials needed in order to do this activity: copies of the article to be read in class. How to prepare yourself for this activity: make enough copies to hand the students out when doing the activity. How to prepare the learners/people involved in the activity: teacher may make an informal survey about students’ religious beliefs and how they think these affect their lives. Things to take into account when preparing the activity: teachers may be ready to manage difficult situations that may arise during the debate that will come after reading the article. This is so because religion is a delicate issue as it belongs to individuals’ private sphere. Doing the activity How to bring the activity into practice? - Give out the copies of the article. Students read the text in turns for the whole class. (5 min.) Doubts about word meanings must be explained by the teacher so that everybody gets the ideas in the text. (10 min.) The teacher asks about the main ideas and writes them on the board. This way, everybody will realize the content just in case they missed something. (10 min.) Time for debate. (until the lesson is over, thought it might be extended to the next lesson if the teacher considers it necessary) 51 Things to take into account when bringing the activity into practice: Being a reading activity, teachers will be very careful about the students’ reading comprehension level. It will depend on the academic background of students. With lower levels, teachers may even rewrite the text and adapt it to the students’ capacities. Many different ideas may arise during the debate about religions and the use they have been made of through History. The teacher must moderate the debate in order to make sure that everyone has a saying and they all respect each other’s opinions. Appreciation How did the project partner experience this activity? What are the advantages? Were there any disadvantages? According to some of our local (Spanish) students, the religious problems come from abroad, from immigrants; and mainly with Muslims because they thing that Islam is a much more diehard religion that Catholicism. Obviously, this is a void argumentation based on ignorance, on not knowing ‘the other’ and their cultures. However, they are true when facing some interpretations of Islam which are extremely chauvinist. Some other students assured that women’s discrimination with respect to religion is due to the existence of old laws and rules made by men which reinforce lack of respect towards women. Moreover, it was very noticeable that some students over 50 years of age justified gender violence when it is “sanctioned” by religion. Debate also led to talk about the way foreigners fit into the culture of the country they come to live and the problems it creates. One last point that was raised by some Latin American students during the debate was the equalitarian philosophy that lies behind some protestant churches in their native countries. The European charter for Equality This activity fits under the following actions of the European Charter: ☒ Secure or promote equal access to education and vocational and continuing training for women and men, girls and boys. Eliminate any stereotyped concept of the roles of women and men in all forms of education (3 subactions). ☒The revision of educational materials, of school and other educational programmes and teaching methods, to ensure that they combat stereotypical attitudes and practices. ☒The undertaking of specific actions to encourage non-traditional career choices. ☐The specific inclusion, within courses of civic education and education for citizenship, of elements that emphasize the importance of the equal participation of women and men in the democratic processes. 52 ☐Promote the balanced representation of women and men at all levels of school management and governance. Attachment Attachment 1: Feminism or Barbarism article sheet. CONCHA CABALLERO, EL PAÍS 31/12/2011 What do an ultraorthodox Jew, an Afghan Taliban, a radical Muslim, a fundamentalist Christian or a diehard Buddhist have in common? It is not their belief in God or in eternal life; it is neither praying nor their sense of brotherhood; it is not even their feeling of guilt or their idea of redemption. It is their deep hatred towards women’s freedom. All of them agree on this issue. It does not matter the mythical origin each religion recreates, whether humans were born out of mud, clouds or smoke. The rites they consecrate or how they name their gods – Yahve, Allah, Lord, Ngai or Popol – are not important. Every single religion, specially the monotheistic ones, shares a deep contempt for women equality, and their most extreme “readings” also share a limitless brutality to punish those who dare to question male supremacy. There are, of course, grades, levels, nuances which cannot be taken for granted. Among religions, Christianity is the one which has coexisted longer with societies that have been able to differentiate between civil and religious powers, and Christianity has reluctantly accepted the steps taken by women towards equality. However, Christian theory is still immune to social changes as many speeches made by bishops and the like about rapes, children abuse, abortion or women equality demonstrate. We have learnt this week that ultraorthodox Jews in Israel spit at girls when they do not like how they are dressing. They also decide which part of the street must be occupied by each sex, or segregate women in buses, marry them without their consent and even deprive them of any decision taking. All this happens within the bounds of a developed society and with the, so far, conspiratorial silence of the authorities. These ultraorthodox Jews behave just like Talibans, fundamentalist Muslims or some Spanish bishops. In front of these extreme religious manifestations, more and more sweetened and lax versions of religious power are enjoying certain success in the Arabic world. In Egypt, those women who took the streets demanding democracy were arrested and humiliated. The Egyptian authorities, who do not consider themselves fundamentalist but moderate, subjected these women to virginity tests. But the world has not understood yet that we cannot call democratic a political system which does not assume, without restrictions, the complete equality between men and women; and even more, that virtually there is no denominational political system which can call itself a true democracy. However, our political leaders meet and happily negotiate with regimes which sentence to death and stone women, which torture and enslave them, which deprive them of their most elemental rights, from Saudi Arabia to the new Afghan governments. Our leaders call democracies to these biased governments and welcome progress from regimes which are used to segregating women. 53 There is an international genocide that nobody condemns. Thousands of women are daily killed all over the world by the mere fact of belonging to this gender, of having broken the public or private rules dictated by male supremacy. Many are stoned in public places or stabbed to death at home for being unfaithful. All of them are victims of the same religion: the one that consecrates men over women. This is the reason why, dear readers, violence against women cannot be only focused on particular cases, on family conflicts, on failures when applying laws, or on changing names to crimes. This is a fully ideological crime; a crime where what is at stake is male supremacy, or revenge against women's freedom. Words are so important that define ourselves and, in this matter, they draw a clear line: on the one hand, the majority of people, including most men, who have understood the horror of this barbarism; on the other, the barbarians and nostalgic from old times. 54 How come they said that? Practiced in: CEPA “RAMÓN Y CAJAL”, PARLA (MADRID – SPAIN) Target group of this activity: Beginners education, Secondary education (levels 1 and 2) and NVQ courses. Number of people which can be involved in the activity: 20-25 students in each level group. Duration of the activity: 1 hour approximately. Although depending on the time dedicated to debate it may last for more than one hour. Description of the activity Give a general description of the activity: These activities are intended to break down gender stereotypes among adult students. In order to get this aim, they will read certain statements coming from popular sayings as well as those coming from famous learned people. Students will have to reflect on those statements, value them and give their opinion. Preparation Materials needed in order to do this activity: copies of the activities to be handed out in class. The attachments include the answers to the activities for the teacher. How to prepare yourself for this activity: make enough copies to hand the students out when doing the activity and maybe try to look for more popular sayings and statements about gender stereotypes in order to illustrate students that there are hundreds of examples of chauvinist thought. How to prepare the learners/people involved in the activity: the teacher may ask students in advance whether they know sayings and statements which reflect typical male and female behaviours. Then the teacher may ask them whether they agree or disagree with those statements. Things to take into account when preparing the activity: Due to the local nature of popular sayings, those interested in taking this activity into practice must check if the sayings in the activity coincide with the ones in their country. If not, they should change those they consider. Doing the activity How to bring the activity into practice? - Split the class into several groups (4 or 5 students each). Give out the copies. Give groups time to make the activities suggested in the work sheet. (15-20 min.) Share the results that have come up in the group with the whole class. (10 min.) Debate about the conclusions (till the end of the lesson). If there is not enough time for conclusions, this debate may go on in the next class. 55 Things to take into account when bringing the activity into practice: As language used is very simple and statement are brief and concise, there shouldn’t be problems of understanding. If there were, the teacher would clarify the meanings of words students may not understand. Many different ideas may arise regarding gender stereotypes. The teacher must moderate the debate in order to make sure that everyone has a saying and they all respect each other’s opinions. Appreciation How did the project partner experience this activity? What are the advantages? Were there any disadvantages? Many of our students said the popular sayings in the activity were too old and obsolete, though some thought, surprisingly women students, that many sayings were true. Moreover, it was detected a high and worrying level of chauvinism among the youngest students, both male and female. In some of our groups, female students showed a surprising lack of interest and this was something that shocked teachers. When asked about this, these girls said that they were minority and felt ill at ease. During debate time, the issue of positive discrimination towards women was arisen by students. Sides were taken for and against this topic; it was usually male students who were against while female students supported positive discrimination. Both popular sayings and statements by famous people led in another group to discussion about gender violence. Many students believe that these statements open the way to later physical violence because they are, in fact, the first step in the process leading to gender violence. Many teachers pointed out that these issues present serious difficulties with foreign students, mainly Muslims, because of the important ideological burden they have. They got to the following conclusion: we cannot avoid dealing with gender stereotypes, but, perhaps, it would be better dealing with it in an indirect way. It was even suggested to get in touch with the people in charge of the local mosque so that collaborative work might take place in order to tackle gender stereotypes. The European charter for Equality This activity fits under the following actions of the European Charter: ☒ Secure or promote equal access to education and vocational and continuing training for women and men, girls and boys. Eliminate any stereotyped concept of the roles of women and men in all forms of education (3 subactions). ☒The revision of educational materials, of school and other educational programmes and teaching methods, to ensure that they combat stereotypical attitudes and practices. 56 ☒The undertaking of specific actions to encourage non-traditional career choices. ☒The specific inclusion, within courses of civic education and education for citizenship, of elements that emphasize the importance of the equal participation of women and men in the democratic processes. ☐Promote the balanced representation of women and men at all levels of school management and governance. Attachments Attachment 1: Chauvinist popular sayings activity with answer key. Read and reflect carefully about the following Spanish phrases belonging to popular proverbs and answer the following questions. • Women and pan in the kitchen have fun. • Two daughters and a mother, three demons to a father. • In the virtue of a woman lies her beauty. • To your daughter, cap her crack. • The honest woman, at home and not at the party. • Nor tow with firebrands, nor women with men. • To a woman and a donkey, every day a spanking. • Women who is moved, calving in a year. • Women and love, for just one pleasure, a hundred pains. • Women who speak Latin will never have a good end. • From the evil woman to keep away, and from the good not to rely. • Carrying and bringing, hobby of women. 1. Would these messages seem offensive due to their content? Why? 2. Why do people (men and women) consider these sayings as funny? 3. What impact do you think these statements have in real life? SOLUTIONS: 1. Read and reflect carefully following Spanish phrases of popular proverbs and answer the following questions. Objective: To reflect on the misogyny that underlies in popular wisdom. 57 • Women and pan in the kitchen have fun. • Two daughters and a mother, three demons to a father. • In the virtue of a woman lies her beauty. • To your daughter, cap her crack. • The honest woman, at home and not at the party. • Nor tow with firebrands, nor women with men. • To a woman and a donkey, every day a spanking. • Women who is moved, calving in a year. • Women and love, for just one pleasure, a hundred pains. • Women who speak Latin will never have a good end. • From the evil woman to keep away, and from the good not to rely. • Carrying and bringing, hobby of women. 1. Would these messages seem offensive due to their content? Why? Yes, as they encourage the belief that women are a certain way because they are women. 2. Why do people (men and women) consider these sayings as funny? Such phrases or "jokes" are included in a repertoire that has grown over the history and give body to something that is now called "the war of the sexes". In many "humorous" TV programmes (the comedy club, etc) there are quite often comedians who "cultivate" this kind of topics. The humor, "to laugh at" has been in many historic moments a form of domination. Jokes about homosexuals, blacks, the disabled etc., were created and disseminated in order to maintain the "status quo" of the social classes and the patriarchy. 3. What impact do you think these statements have in real life? Proverbs are commonly associated with wisdom, so the one who thinks so is "wise". On a daily basis these messages or other with the same intention are heard, but with a more current and adapted language. Such stereotyped beliefs remain as it requires less energy to pre-judge than to know. Attachment 2: Chauvinist statements by famous people with answer key. Carefully read these quotations said or written by well-known characters of the world of culture: 1. "The man who laughs at everything is because he despises it all. The woman who laughs at everything is because she knows she has beautiful teeth." Jardiel Poncela. 2. "Because being a woman and being quiet are two incompatible things." Tirso de Molina. 3. God has said: "You, woman, will give birth; you, man, will work." Gregorio Marañón. 4. "There are three things that I have never been able to get my head around: the ebb and flow of the sea, the social mechanism and female logic." Jean Cousteau. 58 5. "Women are long-haired animals with short intelligence." Shopenhauer. 6. "Love is to men something besides their lives, whereas love is to women their whole existance." Lord Byron. 7. "Man is made for war; woman for the warrior’s recreation. Everything else is pure nonsense." Nietzsche. 8. "When a woman sees the man she loves and he is not aware of her presence, she doesn’t think ´I have seen him`, but ´he hasn’t seen me`". Azorín. 9. "Everything that a woman truly loves- a dog, a man, God, anything- she loves it like a child of her own." Antonio Gala. 10. "Sports is the only human business where women accept their inferiority and inability to compete with a man. That may be due to the fact that their results can be measured by a stopwatch and a tape measure." Jean Hippolyte Giradoux. 11. "Resignation is women’s virtue." Tolstoi. A. Which sentences correspond to which category? Write the number in the corresponding grid. (All sentences refer to both female and male stereotypes). 2 MALE STEREOTYPE Emotional stability, self-control. Dynamism. Intellectual qualities and aptitudes. Agressiveness. Hardly defined emotional aspect. Rationality. Frankness. Bravenes and risk taking. Efficiency. Objectivity. Public and professional space. FEMALE STEREOTYPE Emotional instability, lack of self-control. Passivity. Little intellectual development. Tenderness. Well-defined emotional aspect. Irrationality. Frivolity. Fear and weakness. Incoherence. Subjectivity. Home and family space. B. Write the name of the author who you think has pronnounced a quotation related to the followoing characteristics of both male and female stereotypes: MALE STEREOTYPE FEMALE STEREOTYPE QUOTATION Emotional stability, self-control. Emotional instability, lack of self- Tirso de Molina control. Dynamism. Passivity. Intellectual qualities and aptitudes. Little intellectual development. Agressiveness. Tenderness. Hardly defined emotional aspect. Well-defined emotional aspect. 59 Rationality. Irrationality. Frankness. Bravenes and risk taking. Efficiency. Objectivity. Public and professional space. Frivolity. Fear and weakness. Incoherence. Subjectivity. Home and family space. ANSWER KEY: 1. Carefully read these quotations said or written by well-known characters of the world of culture: 1. "The man who laughs at everything is because he despises it all. The woman who laughs at everything is because she knows she has beautiful teeth." Jardiel Poncela. 2. "Because being a woman and being quiet are two incompatible things." Tirso de Molina. 3. God has said: "You, woman, will give birth; you, man, will work." Gregorio Marañón. 4. 5. "There are three things that I have never been able to get my head around: the ebb and flow of the sea, the social mechanism and female logic." Jean Cousteau. "Women are long-haired animals with short intelligence." Shopenhauer. 6. "Love is to men something besides their lives, whereas love is to women their whole existance." Lord Byron. 7. "Man is made for war; woman for the warrior’s recreation. Everything else is pure nonsense." Nietzsche. 8. "When a woman sees the man she loves and he is not aware of her presence, she doesn’t think <I have seen him>, but <he hasn’t seen me>". Azorín. 9. "Everything that a woman truly loves- a dog, a man, God, anything- she loves it like a child of her own." Antonio Gala. 10. "Sports is the only human business where women accept their inferiority and inability to compete with a man. That may be due to the fact that their results can be measured by a stopwatch and a tape measure." Jean Hippolyte Giradoux. 11. "Resignation is women’s virtue." Tolstoi. 60 Objective: To become aware of the importance of androcentrism as a cultural filter. A. Which sentences correspond to which category? Write the number in the corresponding grid. (All sentences refer to both female and male stereotypes). 2 3 5 7 9 4 1 11 10 8 6 MALE STEREOTYPE Emotional stability, self-control. Dynamism. Intellectual qualities and aptitudes. Agressiveness. Hardly defined emotional aspect. Rationality. Frankness. Bravenes and risk taking. Efficiency. Objectivity. Public and professional space. FEMALE STEREOTYPE Emotional instability, lack of self-control. Passivity. Little intellectual development. Tenderness. Well-defined emotional aspect. Irrationality. Frivolity. Fear and weakness. Incoherence. Subjectivity. Home and family space. B. Write the name of the author who you think has pronnounced a quotation related to the followoing characteristics of both male and female stereotypes: MALE STEREOTYPE FEMALE STEREOTYPE Emotional stability, self-control. Emotional instability, lack of selfcontrol. Dynamism. Passivity. Intellectual qualities and aptitudes. Little intellectual development. Agressiveness. Tenderness. Hardly defined emotional aspect. Well-defined emotional aspect. Rationality. Irrationality. QUOTATION Tirso de Molina Frankness. Bravenes and risk taking. Jardiel Poncela. Tolstoi. Jean Hippolyte Giradoux. Azorín. Lord Byron. Frivolity. Fear and weakness. Efficiency. Incoherence. Objectivity. Subjectivity. Public and professional space. Home and family space. Gregorio Marañón Nietzsche. Shopenhauer. Antonio Gala Jean Cocteau 61 Learn the warning signs of abuse Practiced in: CEPA “RAMÓN Y CAJAL”, PARLA (MADRID – SPAIN) Target group of this activity: Beginners education, Secondary education (levels 1 and 2) and NVQ courses. Number of people which can be involved in the activity: 20-25 students in each level group. Duration of the activity: 1 hour approximately. Description of the activity Give a general description of the activity: With these cartoons showing the usual steps taken until physical violence against women takes place we are trying to make students aware of the gender violence process so that they will never become attackers and/or victims. Preparation Materials needed in order to do this activity: copies of the cartoons and blackboard. How to prepare yourself for this activity: make enough copies to hand the students out when doing the activity. How to prepare the learners/people involved in the activity: maybe the teacher may ask, during the previous lesson, some warm-up questions related to gender violence so that students start to think about the topic. Things to take into account when preparing the activity: as it is a very touchy issue, the teacher must be aware of sensibilities and may not push forward if the debate after the activity brings out personal and delicate situations. Doing the activity How to bring the activity into practice? - Split the class into several groups (4 or 5 students each). Give out the copies of the cartoon. Write down some questions to prompt discussion on the blackboard. Time group debate (15-20 min.) Share the ideas that have come up in the group with the whole class. Things to take into account when bringing the activity into practice: Being an activity which mixes visual and written language, teachers won’t find many difficulties in terms of language barriers with lower level students as pictures support language that may not be understood. Many different ideas may arise regarding gender violence. The teacher must moderate the debate in order to make sure that everyone has a saying and they all respect each other’s opinions. 62 Appreciation How did the project partner experience this activity? What are the advantages? Were there any disadvantages? Some of our students at CEPA “Ramón y Cajal” think that gender violence will never disappear because it is rooted in society. Unfortunately, gender violence is not uncommon for them. In fact, most of them know someone in their family, neighbourhood or friends who has suffered from this kind of violence. We have noticed sometimes that that “other person” they talked about was themselves. Whenever we have detected one case of gender violence, we have taken the necessary steps so that those students are taken care of by the authorities. When debate started in class after reading and reflecting on the cartoons, many students pointed out that the process that ends up in physical violence has its roots in the loss of respect within the couple. In order to avoid dangerous situations, most of our students agreed on the importance of an equalitarian education where men and women are placed at the same level. They also highlighted that deeply rooted cultural traditions where women are discriminated should disappear due to the fact that these traditions must not be necessarily good just because they’ve been practised for ages. After the activity was done in class, the teachers involved in it discussed about the perception some of them have about younger generations moving back to older and more chauvinist attitudes which teachers thought forgotten. They also talked about the failures of equalitarian education these days and came to the conclusion that part of the set-back is due to the influence mass media. They have been showing a series of chauvinist models of behaviour that ordinary people have assumed as the way they’re expected to behave. The European charter for Equality This activity fits under the following actions of the European Charter: ☒ Secure or promote equal access to education and vocational and continuing training for women and men, girls and boys. Eliminate any stereotyped concept of the roles of women and men in all forms of education (3 subactions). ☒The revision of educational materials, of school and other educational programmes and teaching methods, to ensure that they combat stereotypical attitudes and practices. ☐The undertaking of specific actions to encourage non-traditional career choices. ☐The specific inclusion, within courses of civic education and education for citizenship, of elements that emphasize the importance of the equal participation of women and men in the democratic processes. ☐Promote the balanced representation of women and men at all levels of school management and governance. 63 Attachments Attachment 1: Learn the warning signs of abuse sheet. 64 65 Bodies Practiced in: CEPA “RAMÓN Y CAJAL”, PARLA (MADRID – SPAIN) Target group of this activity: Beginners education, Secondary education (levels 1 and 2) and NVQ courses. Number of people which can be involved in the activity: 20-25 students in each level group. Duration of the activity: 1 hour approximately. Description of the activity Give a general description of the activity: This newspaper article is aimed at making students aware, according to the author of the text, of the differences between women through generations. That is to say, between those women who decades ago fought for their rights and those female youngsters who, apparently, seem to be going back to old female patterns related to traditional roles as mothers and wives. Preparation Materials needed in order to do this activity: copies of the article to be read in class. How to prepare yourself for this activity: make enough copies to hand the students out when doing the activity. How to prepare the learners/people involved in the activity: teachers may make some warm up questions on the differences between women’s behaviour with respect to feminism throughout generations. Things to take into account when preparing the activity: teachers may be ready to manage difficult situations that may arise during the debate that will come after reading the article. This is so because opinions about female roles may arise harsh arguments. Doing the activity How to bring the activity into practice? - Give out the copies of the article. Students read the text in turns for the whole class. (5 min.) Doubts about word meanings must be explained by the teacher so that everybody gets the ideas in the text. (10 min.) The teacher asks about the main ideas and writes them on the board. This way, everybody will realize the content just in case they missed something. (10 min.) Time for debate. (until the lesson is over, thought it might be extended to the next lesson if the teacher considers it necessary) 66 Things to take into account when bringing the activity into practice: Being a reading activity, teachers will be very careful about the students’ reading comprehension level. It will depend on the academic background of students. With lower levels, teachers may even rewrite the text and adapt it to the students’ capacities. Teachers must moderate the debate in order to make sure that everyone has a saying and they all respect each other’s opinions. Appreciation How did the project partner experience this activity? What are the advantages? Were there any disadvantages? Some groups of students worked the text from a liguistic point of view so that they also put into practice some of the contents of their official curriculum. This included giving their personal opinion about the topic in written form. Most of these opinion refused the author’s thesis. Other groups came to the following conclusions: - The two kinds of behaviour the author confronts can be perfectly combined. The current economic crisis has its saying and consequences in women’s behaviour. Staying at home is not bad as far as it is a decision taken by a woman. The text is unreal and is also based on stereotypes. This article also led to talk about who makes what at home. It was made clear that many men in their forties have seen themselves forced by the present crisis to assume house chores. Moreover, many women have no doubts about how house chores must be shared. Those groups where most students are over forty shared the following ideas: - - A very important number of Moroccan female students still think it is better for women to stay at home taking care of children even though it means not working and so, not earning money. Many students also believed that the situation posed by Manuel Vicent in his article has always taken place and will never change. Discussion led to talk about education. Most students stated that women are the ones who really bring children up y they are also those who blame when education fails. Besides, it was highlighted the double educative role grandmothers have these days when they see themselves involved in their grandchildren’s education when both parents are working. With respect to the issue of women at work, it was made clear from students’ own experience that women earn less than men. The NVQ groups showed a great deal of different opinions. Some male students agreed on the author’s perspective about men, while some female students disagreed because, according to them, the image given about women in the text is biased. They showed their concern about women’s freedom to choose about their future. The debate also led to talk about the image that mass media cast about women and how this image influences both men and women. 67 Finally, another group of students pointed out that femininity and feminism are concepts that do not have to oppose. Moreover, they completely disagreed with the generational comparisons Vicent assumes because they believed those comparisons were exaggerated. The European charter for Equality This activity fits under the following actions of the European Charter: ☒ Secure or promote equal access to education and vocational and continuing training for women and men, girls and boys. Eliminate any stereotyped concept of the roles of women and men in all forms of education (3 subactions). ☒The revision of educational materials, of school and other educational programmes and teaching methods, to ensure that they combat stereotypical attitudes and practices. ☒The undertaking of specific actions to encourage non-traditional career choices. ☐The specific inclusion, within courses of civic education and education for citizenship, of elements that emphasize the importance of the equal participation of women and men in the democratic processes. ☐Promote the balanced representation of women and men at all levels of school management and governance. Attachments Attachment 1: Bodies article sheet 16 SEP 2012 Manuel Vicent Bodies What is best, to put up with a tyrant boss who exploits me or with an average husband who will take me to Paris at any tender gesture? An attractive young woman is putting her make-up on in front of the bathroom mirror as she gets ready to go to work while she recites a new version of Hamlet’s monologue: To be or not to be, that is the question; to get up at 7am everyday having to put up with a despotic, sexist and incompetent boss, all for just over a thousand euros a month. Or to give up that exhausting struggle and stay in bed to sleep, maybe dreaming, next to an ordinary husband who, with a little bit of skill, I can manage as I please. This tragic dilemma seems to have sunk in a great deal of female youngsters. As opposed to that 68 generation of women from the 60s, who decided to become free and went through an arduous sacrifice to have the same equal rights as men and to impose their presence on the first line of society. Every day it is more obvious a new type of young woman, even teenager, who has chosen to use the ancien t feminine weapons, which seemed almost forgotten, seduction, physical beauty and sex appeal to seek shelter in their partner´s arms and to take back the role of the perfect housewife. The moral values of the Catholic Church may have allied with the economic recession to bring these ideas back to women; getting back in the house, bringing the children up, making themselves look pretty and pleasing their husbands. If a girl goes to the gym on a daily basis pushing herself to the limit, if she stuffs herself up with silicone, if she walks on impossible heels, if she decorates her skin with all kinds of tattoos, is she trying to feel healthy and strong to fight for her rights or is she just trying to turn her body into an object of desire, a fighting weapon against men? To be or not to be. What is best, to put up with a despotic boss who exploits me or with an average husband who will take me to Paris at a tender gesture? The dilemma may not be as tough but those women who in the last century fought like panthers for their dignity, with no time to put any lipstick on, now have beautiful and covered in silicone granddaughters, tattooed with all sorts of snakes and butterflies, who are willing to give up their rights as long as they win the battle, the old dream of feeling attractive having a macho man falling at their feet on the carpet. 69 Household chores survey Practiced in: CEPA Ramón y Cajal, Parla (Madrid). Target group of this activity: Beginners education, Secondary education (level 2) and NVQ courses. Number of people which can be involved in the activity: 20-25 students in each level group. Duration of the activity: 1 hour approximately. Description of the activity Give a general description of the activity. Students fill in the survey and compare their results with the help of the teacher (maybe reflecting the results on a board). After collecting the outcome, there will be given some time to reflect about the data so that a debate would start among students with the teacher’s moderation. Conclusions on this debate should be written on a board. Preparation Materials needed in order to do this activity: photocopies of the survey for each student and blackboard. How to prepare yourself for this activity: The role of the teacher is essential in this survey, not only in the way it is conducted, but specially in the analysis of the results. How to prepare the learners/people involved in the activity: Learners should be taught to extract conclusions from surveys, to go beyond the data and get deep in the root of the results and what could be done to change the male-female distribution of chores at home. Since everyone is involved in these chores at their own homes, it should not be difficult to motivate the learners to take an active role in the development of the activity. Things to take into account when preparing the activity: Cultural differences are obvious when dealing with house chores distribution, so teachers should be aware of this when presenting the data collected in the survey. Doing the activity How to bring the activity into practice? The survey must be handed out and completed individually, and then the data are collected by the teacher, maybe with the help of some volunteer students and written on the blackboard. Then, there is a debate to analyze the results, to establish why things are as they are today and how we could change these results in our own homes. 70 Things to take into account when bringing the activity into practice: While the debate takes place teachers must assume the role of moderator allowing students to express their opinion, but also promoting respect towards each other by listening to others and waiting for their turn to talk so that everyone can be heard. Appreciation How did the project partner experience this activity? What are the advantages? Were there any disadvantages? The activity was proved to be a very successful and productive one at all levels. One of the main advantages of this activity is that it gave teachers the possibility of taking it further to other related activities, such as the equal responsibility of women and men in the distribution of house chores. From the survey’s results we can infer that there are still typically feminine and masculine chores and this opinion is shared by most of our foreign students. On the other hand, it seems that, among these students, husbands usually do nothing at home. There were students who considered this survey a bit obsolete since many women are also incorporated into the labor market. However, it seems that things related to children care are still mostly managed by women. Many of them even admit they do not want men to get involved in these matters. Among our oldest students, many women criticize themselves for their own male chauvinist behavior while bringing their children up. However, some have realized that their children have assumed a more active role in this respect when sharing their lives with their couples. It is also remarkable that some of these male retired students have started to make some housework they had never made before, although those traditionally female chores (ironing, cooking, doing the laundry, etc.) are still mostly carried out by their wives. The European charter for Equality This activity fits under the following actions of the European Charter: ☒Secure or promote equal access to education and vocational and continuing training for women and men, girls and boys. Eliminate any stereotyped concept of the roles of women and men in all forms of education (3 subactions). ☐The revision of educational materials, of school and other educational programmes and teaching methods, to ensure that they combat stereotypical attitudes and practices. ☒The undertaking of specific actions to encourage non-traditional career choices. ☒The specific inclusion, within courses of civic education and education for citizenship, of elements that emphasize the importance of the equal participation of women and men in the democratic processes. ☒Promote the balanced representation of women and men at all levels of school management and governance. 71 Attachments Attachment 1: House chores survey HOUSEWORK SURVEY We are listing a series of housework. You will have to say who usually makes them at home, then we will discuss the results and check to what extent these chores are shared. HOUSE CHORES WHO MAKES THEM? Make the couple’s bed Hoover Mend a plug Do the shopping Make the children’s beds Tidy up the children’s romos Wash the car Cook Change the gas cylinder Take children to the doctor Buy the children’s colthes Change nappies (when needed) Help children do their homework Clean the bathroom after a shower Clear the table Take the car to the mechanic 72 Take children to school Do the laundry Hang out the laundry Wash the dishes or set the dishwasher Prepare luggage for a trip Buy an electrical appliance Clean the shoes Do the ironing Put children to bed Development of the activity: Students fill in the survey and compare their results with the help of the teacher (maybe reflecting the results on a board). After collecting the outcome, there will be given some time to think about the data so that a debate would start among students with the teacher's moderation. Conclusions on this debate should also be written on the board. Conclusions we got at CEPA “Ramón y Cajal” about the survey: From the surveys' results we can infer that there are still typically feminine and masculine chores and this opinion is shared by most of our foreign students. On the other hand, it seems that, among these students, husbands usually do nothing at home. There were students who considered this survey a bit obsolete since many women are also incorporated into the labour market. However, it seems that things related to children care are still mostly managed by women. Many of them even admit that they do not want men to get involved in these matters. Among our oldest students, many women criticize themselves for their own chauvinist behaviour while bringing their children up. However, some have realized that their children have assumed a more active role in this respect when sharing their lives with their couples. It is also remarkable that some of these male retired students have started to make some housework they had never made before, although those traditionally female chores (ironing, cooking, doing the laundry, etc.) are still made by their wives. 73 Basketball player fined not to dress feminine (newspaper article) Practiced in: CEPA Ramón y Cajal, Parla (Madrid). Target group of this activity: Beginners education, Secondary education (level 2) and NVQ courses. Number of people which can be involved in the activity: 20-25 students in each level group. Duration of the activity: 1 hour approximately. Description of the activity Give a general description of the activity. We chose an article from a newspaper dealing with a professional basketball player who had been fined not to wear her shorts as short as the basketball organization had decided. With this reading we wanted our students to become aware of the situations some women have to go through when practicing sports for the mere fact of being women. We also wanted to analyze how our students perceive the reality and if they felt women are being fairly treated with these attitudes. Preparation Materials needed in order to do this activity: photocopies of the article from the newspaper. How to prepare yourself for this activity: Every teacher must read the text in advance and try to present the topic to the students talking about the presence of women in sports in the past times and currently, the differences with males when sports are concerned, the influence of cultural or religious aspects about women doing sports, etc. How to prepare the learners/people involved in the activity: First of all you have to make them aware of the differences still existing between males and females. A number of questions provided by the teacher are probably helpful to start the discussion. Things to take into account when preparing the activity: At beginners’ level it is difficult to work with such a complex text. However, it can also be used as a comprehension exercise and expanded into some other activities related to the same topic. There are students from different racial and cultural backgrounds and some of them assume women should be at the service of their families and under male supervision at all times. Doing the activity How to bring the activity into practice? The article was read, either by students or by the teacher trying to determine if the situation the basketball player was experiencing was fair or not. After reading it students told their ideas and confronted to others in a discussion moderated by the teacher . 74 Things to take into account when bringing the activity into practice: While the debate takes place teachers must assume the role of moderator allowing students to express their opinion, but also promoting respect towards each other by listening to others and waiting for their turn to talk so that everyone can be heard. Appreciation How did the project partner experience this activity? What are the advantages? Were there any disadvantages? The activity was successful in many ways, apart from working on a text from the linguistic point of view. The activity was proved to be very productive at all levels. The advantages are obvious, if you provide the students with a situation where women are treated in a discriminatory way, they will notice it and their awareness about inequality will raise. There was a discussion in every group of students where they reached their own conclusions. Most of them agreed with the basketball player (dressing in her own way, not following the FIBA regulations). The majority of the students understood that this treatment was degrading for women, although there were some who said that regulations were to be followed without questioning. Probably they should be questioning themselves why those rules are as they are. Cultural aspects were also mentioned. The Islamic traditions for women practicing sports were also commented and criticized as these women usually appear completely covered when they take part in sports competitions. Most of our students defended freedom for women to dress the way they choose to practice basketball or other sports. The European charter for Equality This activity fits under the following actions of the European Charter: ☒Secure or promote equal access to education and vocational and continuing training for women and men, girls and boys. Eliminate any stereotyped concept of the roles of women and men in all forms of education (3 subactions). ☐The revision of educational materials, of school and other educational programmes and teaching methods, to ensure that they combat stereotypical attitudes and practices. ☒The undertaking of specific actions to encourage non-traditional career choices. ☐The specific inclusion, within courses of civic education and education for citizenship, of elements that emphasize the importance of the equal participation of women and men in the democratic processes. ☒Promote the balanced representation of women and men at all levels of school management and governance. 75 Attachments Attachment 1: Article from Publico newspaper Basketball player fined not to dress femenine. Taurasi has refused to comply FIBA rules. PÚBLICO MADRID 14/01/2012 Diana Taurasi, American basketball player for Turkish Galatasaray, is the only player out of the 23 teams in the feminine Euro league who has opposed the FIBA (International Federation of Basketball). She has done it after the organization had decided, a few months ago, that the players could no longer dress their regular attire. The new FIBA code forces them to wear shorts 10 cm above the knee and with a maximum width of 2 cm between cloth and skin. Taurasi, has refused to obey these rules but her protest is having a remarkable cost. The fine for dressing her way is about 500 euros per game, as it was published in Ara. It’s been ten matches now, so her debt is already around 5000 euros. Taurasi’s decision, the 29 years old Galatasaray player , has set the alarms again among the feminist collectives that regard this as a male chauvinist regulation that infringes the right to one’s own image. The Women Council in the city of Madrid , for instance, has carried out a campaign to collect signatures and other actions to raise awareness among different FIBA managers. "Diana Taurasi’s 76 courage should set an example for other players, since their dignity as sportswomen is above any sexist consideration", claims the association in an official notice uploaded in their web page. The FIBA intention is that female basketball players dress in a more feminine way. Elisabeth Cebrián, former basketball player and member of FIBA Europe’s Women Comission, recently explained to this diary that the aim behind this new garment is "differentiate men’s uniforms from ladies’ to make the feminine basketball more attractive". The Women Commission insisted that the decision “ is not at all sexist” because "it tries to enhance the qualities of ladies as athletes , not as objects". Old fashioned mentality AJUB, the female association of basketball players, however, does not coincide with the FIBA in the way the new regulations are interpreted. In a recent release the collective rejected the new norm as, from their perspective, “ it reckons an old fashioned, disrespectful mentality towards professional players who are treated as attractive objects to the spectators more interested in the showing of a body than in the game itself". The three Spanish teams participating in the Female Euroleague (Perfumerías Avenida Baloncesto, Madrid’s Básket Rivas Ecópolis and Valencia’s Ros Casares Basket) were the only teams showing disagreement with the new regulation when it was made official by the FIBA. That’s why the City of Madrid Council of Women claims that the Spanish players publicly support Taurasi. The immediate annulations of the fines imposed to this US player it’s another demand, still being unclear who will eventually pay the fine, Taurasi or her team, and also Patrick Bauman’s, Europe FIBA’s CEO, immediate resign. 77 Young women under a gender equality “illusion” Practiced in: CEPA Ramón y Cajal, Parla (Madrid). Target group of this activity: Beginners education, Secondary education (level 1 and 2) and NVQ courses. Number of people which can be involved in the activity: 20-25 students in each level group. Duration of the activity: 1 hour approximately. Description of the activity Give a general description of the activity. This is an article from a well known newspaper in Spain. In the article some feminist activists regret that many younger girls don’t see necessary to keep the fight for equality. These newer generations consider the revolution is over and everything is already done. They don’t see any sign of inequality until it comes to promotion at work or having babies. Preparation Materials needed in order to do this activity: photocopies of the article. How to prepare yourself for this activity: Teachers taking part in this activity should read the text previously trying to find the best ways to make it productive and useful to their students. They can prepare some questions to their students to start the dialogue. These questions could be the following: - Is the feminist battle over? - Have we already reached equality? - What could be done in terms of real equality between men and women? The idea is to promote a discussion to talk about gender issues that are real to them from reading the article and make them aware of women’s difficulties in some fields. How to prepare the learners/people involved in the activity: Answering the questions suggested by the teachers is a good starting point. This could be done either in small groups or as a whole class activity. Nevertheless, there are some groups in which the questions given by the teacher can help them shape many of the ideas that may arise. Things to take into account when preparing the activity: Teachers should be ready to answer questions about the feminist movement, the evolution of the ideas and the achievements gotten by these feminist groups through the last century. At beginners’ level it is difficult to work with such a complex text. However, it can also be used as a comprehension exercise and expanded into some other activities related to the same topic. 78 Doing the activity How to bring the activity into practice? As it has been explained previously, the activity should be brought into practice differently according to the group levels and teachers carrying it out. Basically, it is read and then discussed in class. Things to take into account when bringing the activity into practice: While the debate takes place teachers must assume the role of moderator allowing students to express their opinion, but also promoting respect towards each other by listening to others and waiting for their turn to talk so that everyone can be heard. Appreciation How did the project partner experience this activity? What are the advantages? Were there any disadvantages? The activity was proved to be a very successful and productive one at all levels. There were interesting conversations and ideas exposed by students and commented by others. One of the main advantages of this activity is that it gave teachers the possibility of taking it further to other related activities, and helped make the learners aware of the equality issue. Curiously enough, after reading the article many of the discussions that turned up around the text were not in close relation to the text itself, but with other intertwined ideas. In some of the groups, students talked about teenagers’ sexuality, some censured the excessive debauchery they enjoy nowadays. It was also commented the quota system established to enhance women’s participation in certain fields of society such as politics, high executives, etc., so far a hostile territory for women. Finally, in other groups students commented about the meaning and implications of the roles commonly assigned to women. The European charter for Equality This activity fits under the following actions of the European Charter: ☒Secure or promote equal access to education and vocational and continuing training for women and men, girls and boys. Eliminate any stereotyped concept of the roles of women and men in all forms of education (3 subactions). ☐The revision of educational materials, of school and other educational programmes and teaching methods, to ensure that they combat stereotypical attitudes and practices. ☐The undertaking of specific actions to encourage non-traditional career choices. ☒The specific inclusion, within courses of civic education and education for citizenship, of elements that emphasize the importance of the equal participation of women and men in the democratic processes. ☒Promote the balanced representation of women and men at all levels of school management and governance. 79 Attachments Attachment 1: Newspaper article “Young women are under a gender equality ‘illusion’” Young women are under a gender equality “illusion” Several experts and young activists believe that the feminist battle is declining among teenagers. Público newspaper PAULA DÍAZ MADRID 16/05/2011 JUSTA REVOLTA FEMINISTS, IN SABADELL. ARNAU BACH “Our mothers have told us that the revolution is over and that in the 70s they got everything they asked for. Today we see that our lives are just as complicated as that of any man. This is why the feminist struggle has relaxed, especially among younger women.” This is a statement by Rita Maestre, a 23 year old student of Politics at Madrid Complutense University, and a member of the association, Contrapoder. Several feminist experts share the same opinion, warning us about the equality “illusion” teenage girls are going through nowadays. Laura Nuño, a gender professor, states that young women only become aware of the inequalities between men and women “when they have children or when they want to get a promotion”. Gimena Llamedo, president of the Young Women Federation, expresses a similar opinion. “Younger women cannot see the glass ceiling, the salary difference, the lack of conciliation; they don’t realise the need to keep fighting”, she concludes. “Young women don’t see the feminist struggle as something necessary because they are under a false gender equality illusion”, continues Yolanda Besteiro, president of the Progressive Women Federation. “They are simply not aware of the problem”, Rita Maestre confirms. 80 In Sabadell (Barcelona), the young feminist group ‘Justa Revolta’ share a similar opinion. “I was brought up the same way as my brother”, says Georgina Monge, a 25 year old activist, who has been a member of the association for over seven years, “but when I turned 15 and I started to interact with other boys, I saw some chauvinistic behaviour I didn’t like, such as possessiveness and jealousy, and this is when I realised there were still things which needed to change.” But not all young women react in the face of these atrocities. The study of Equality and gender violence prevention in adolescence, undertaken by the Government Department of Gender Violence, warned that last summer 9.2% of girls aged between 13 and 18 had undergone some kind of mistreatment by their partners; insulting, hitting or even being forced to have sexual intercourse. Furthermore, 26.2% of boys and 10.1% of girls don’t see being controlled or insulted by their partners as symptoms of sexist violence. In sexual conflicts, only 4.3% of these can justify the use of violence. TOLERANCE TO MALTREATMENT “If they put up with it, they will probably have a higher tolerance level to maltreatment in the future”, warns Besteiro. Rita Maestre also points out that there are “other ways of symbolic violence accepted by teenage girls, such as allowing boys to grab your bottom at a disco.” “Young women see feminism as something old, but their affective roles are based on John Wayne’s idea of love, by which control is a synonym of care”, states Nuño. Further to this, “they perceive society as a failure and this is why it is easier for them to put up with anything in order not to be alone”, adds one professor. What’s the way forward? “A socialisation process which changes these role models, the adjustment of the feminist message to the new generation and co-education in schools,” conclude the feminists. 81 What if nobody cooked one day Practiced in: CEPA Ramón y Cajal, Parla (Madrid). Target group of this activity: Beginners education, Secondary education (level 2) and NVQ courses. Number of people which can be involved in the activity: 20-25 students in each level group. Duration of the activity: 1 hour approximately. Description of the activity Give a general description of the activity. Through reading this article and talking about it we are trying to make students realize the “invisible” work that women do at their homes. Nowadays many of these women work outside as well. They will never get paid for it, and the help obtained by other family relatives is often too small. The article will prompt a debate about whether or not there is discrimination towards women in family life (no salary, no approbation), and it will also allow students to reflect on how to avoid this discrimination. Preparation Materials needed in order to do this activity: photocopies of the article and the blackboard. How to prepare yourself for this activity: Beginners’ level – Due to the complexity of the text, the teacher working with this group may adapt the text into a simpler version so that all students can understand it and participate in the debate. Secondary Education (level 2) – The teachers working with these groups should prepare a few questions beforehand to prompt reflection among the students: 1. What problems does this situation show regarding female work at home? 2. How do you think they could be solved? 3. Are there any other types of discrimination in family life? These questions may be discussed in groups or as a whole class activity in some groups, whereas it could also be done individually as a written questionnaire. NVQ courses – These groups got an introduction to the matter beforehand, and then it was read out loud one time before going into groups for discussion. Finally the whole class shared the points of view. How to prepare the learners/people involved in the activity: Due to the clear message of the article, an initial reading of the interview by the whole class will be powerful enough to initiate a discussion, either in small groups or as a whole class activity. Nevertheless, there are some groups in which the questions given by the teacher can help them shape many of the ideas that may arise. 82 Things to take into account when preparing the activity: At beginners’ level it is not easy to work with such a text. However, it can also be used as a comprehension exercise and expanded into some other activities related to the same topic. Doing the activity How to bring the activity into practice? As it has been explained previously, the activity was brought into practice differently according to the group levels and teachers carrying it out. Things to take into account when bringing the activity into practice: While the debate takes place teachers must assume the role of moderator allowing students to express their opinion, but also promoting respect towards each other by listening to others and waiting for their turn to talk so that everyone can be heard as well as pointing key if no further comments would arise during the activity. Appreciation How did the project partner experience this activity? What are the advantages? Were there any disadvantages? The activity was proved to be a very successful and productive one at all levels. One of the main advantages of this activity is that everybody has some kind of personal experience about this matter. And so everybody had something to say, even if they were reluctant to cooperate. We could check that among our Muslim students there are still powerful stereotypes that keep on justifying women's place at home. One of our teachers compared what the article says to different articles in the Spanish Constitution about citizen's duties and rights in order to see if there were any similarities. These students also agreed that it is mostly women who are in charge of home "business" and that these women often feel that the burden of responsibility on them is too much. Besides, students reflected that at some homes, mainly those where retired people live, household chores are usually shared and that is something highly valued by all. Other groups of students pointed out that, little by little, society is witnessing changes towards equality with respect to househol chores. They also highlighted that this kind of activities at home should be paid just like any other job. The reaction towards this text in one of our groups of students was a little bit extermist. On the one hand, there was a group of students who rejected its content because they considered that it was lying; on the other hand, some of their classmates agreed with the text and added that the way one reacts toward house chores mostly depends on how one has been brought up. Finally, another group of students pointed out that the text exaggerated some ideas. In fact, some of the female students in that group said they would not support a that strike because they considered it as an extremist measure. This led to discussion about the concepts of feminism and chauvinism; some said that both are bad when taken to the extreme. However, some other students would agree with the text because house chores are necessary and mainly those related to old people's cares. Some 83 highlighted that taking care of elderly people is also a governmental responsibility and so far it is being very cheap for the government. These students think that the Spanish government should invest more in taking care of citizens. The European charter for Equality This activity fits under the following actions of the European Charter: ☒Secure or promote equal access to education and vocational and continuing training for women and men, girls and boys. Eliminate any stereotyped concept of the roles of women and men in all forms of education (3 subactions). ☐The revision of educational materials, of school and other educational programmes and teaching methods, to ensure that they combat stereotypical attitudes and practices. ☐The undertaking of specific actions to encourage non-traditional career choices. ☒The specific inclusion, within courses of civic education and education for citizenship, of elements that emphasize the importance of the equal participation of women and men in the democratic processes. ☒Promote the balanced representation of women and men at all levels of school management and governance. Attachments Attachment 1: Article – “What if nobody cooked” newspaper article What if nobody cooked for one day? Several feminist groups have suggested a "housework strike" along with the General Strike on 14 th, November: that is, not taking care of, as far as possible, daily house chores. Thus, they want to make visible their breeding work, mainly under women’s responsibility, as well as to claim a redistribution of both paid and non-remunerated works. “If a massive 'housework strike' took place, its impact in the world would probably be much higher than that of a general strike”. 84 Setting the washing machine, taking care of children, doing the shopping, washing, cleaning the house, looking after the family’s elder people. Although those kind of activities are basically made by women (they spend two hours a day more than men, according to the INE), they are neither paid nor taken into account in the country’s GDP, but those chores are what they are, that is, work. For that reason, several groups are preparing a “housework strike” on November, 14 th, the same day of the General Strike. “We consider that, within the context of a general strike, if we do not talk about this kind of work, the vindication is incomplete. Housework is essential for life and we want to be in the streets defending it”, Rocío Lleó explains, one of the members of the Feminismos Sol committee. Lleó explains that making a proper “housework strike” would mean chaos. For that reason, it is more a symbolic strike but with powerful gestures. “Nobody can give up feeding a sick relative, or changing nappies, but people can, for instance, keep children at home instead of taking them to school that day, or forget to get involved in some housework", she says. Our proposal is being spread in some Spanish cities and many organizations are supporting it. These are the most outstanding vindications in their manifesto: They denounce that housework is pushed into women while men are exempt from it as if it were something “natural”. They also denounce that housework, invisible as it is, is the basis of the whole system. Moreover, they want to redistribute and collectivize housework. Finally, they would like a true recognition of what procreation implies. The economist Carmen Castro believes that a housework strike is a good way of “making visible the inconsistence of the system we are living in, mainly focused on productive work”. “There are many activities that generate value but they are not translated into monetary terms, such as procreation. It is about everybody assuming “caring” as a social need and stop thinking that it is only one part of society –women, who still bear that social pressure– who takes care of the other part. The stigmatization of women as carers penalizes them and becomes an obstacle towards gender equality”, she points out. 85 Another member of the Feminismos Sol committee, Sua Fenoll, highlights that the whole idea is about denouncing the present model, “which assumes that behind the productive work there must be people working on caretaking at zero cost for the system". "Nobody should be able to work for eight hours, plus commuting time, and then cleaning the house, doing the shopping, attending the family … unless that person works at home full-time or overworks”, Fenoll assures. She also points out that those situations are usually solved by paying someone to do the housework, being that person usually a woman and quite often a migrant woman. “At the end of the day, the system places us (women) as responsible for care taking; that’s why we are calling women’s attention to follow us. We have to wonder what would happen if we followed a massive housework strike. Maybe the world would stop faster than with an ordinary general strike", she claims. Carmen Castro explains that that housework strike is a day “to change priorities” and to vindicate a new social model where both paid and non-paid work are redistributed. "A model where women won’t be ‘motherized’ but one where society becomes ‘motherized’ and citizen become responsible. There are alternative proposals where equality and common welfare articulate society”, she claims. Housework commandos During the days previous to the general strike as well as for that same day (14 th, November), Feminismos Sol is preparing housework commandos. In groups and dressed with aprons and gloves, they will visit markets, squares and states to explain people what housework is. “We want people to know what would really happen if a housework strike took place; we also want them to become aware of the importance of redistributing them and to let them know that it is something which is not limited to homes”, Rocío Lleó says. During the last general strike on March, 29 th, another housework strike was launched. As a sign of solidarity, some cities hanged aprons from their balconies; in some other places, people came to the demonstrations wearing aprons or taking mops and rags with themselves. 86 1-minute film contest Practiced in: CVO Antwerpen, Belgium Target group of this activity: Above all our own students and staff, but also open for people outside the school Number of people which can be involved in the activity: Unlimited Duration of the activity: About 6 months Description of the activity In order to raise awareness on gender issues, we have organized a film festival/contest. Students and staff, but also people outside the school, could make a short movie (duration: one minute) about gender inequality or role patterns. Different styles were possible: documentary, fiction, stop-motion, animation … The jury - a professional film director, the principal of the school and the GI-WHAT project group decided who were the three winners. Preparation Materials needed in order to do this activity: - a movie camera or smartphone a (free) editing program (like: Windows Movie Maker) promotional materials like posters, a website, a Facebook page … prices for the winners an example of a short movie on gender issues How to prepare yourself for this activity (from the point of the organizer): - Create a project group and have some meetings to discuss and decide about the jury, the prices, the exact format, the rules … Make a poster Not necessary but can be interesting: make a short movie yourself, just to promote the festival and to show people that it’s not so difficult to make a 1 minute film with your smartphone. Plan some workshops for the staff and students about making and editing a short movie. How to prepare the learners/people involved in the activity: It can be necessary to organize a workshop in order to teach people how to make and edit a short movie. There can be some hesitation to participate when someone has never used a camera before. Sometimes they need a little push so creating the movie in a class environment can be interesting to overcome that barrier. 87 Things to take into account when preparing the activity: You need some time (about 5 or 6 months) in order to get students and staff used to the idea, to follow a workshop and to make a movie themselves. So you need to start the contest rather early in the school year. The best way to get your students to participate is through the teachers. So it’s important that the teachers are enthusiastic about the contest. Doing the activity How to bring the activity into practice? - - - Promote the film festival: hang out posters, share it on your website and Facebook page and talk about it in the classrooms and the staffroom. Promote the workshops you give on making and editing a short movie. Show the movie you made yourself on Facebook and the website. You can also organise this competition with 1 class group. If so, you can ask all the students to grade the movies. If there are 10 movies, their first choice should be awarded 10 points, the second choice 9 points, the third 8 points etc. The movie with the best score wins the competition. When handing out the prices it is nice to give your students a certificate. You can find this certificate in the attachment (write the name of the winner on the dots). It is also nice to invite other students or classes to join this ceremony. Participants can hand in their movie by using www.wetransfer.com. Things to take into account when bringing the activity into practice: Making lots of promotion is very important! Appreciation How did the project partner experience this activity? What are the advantages? Were there any disadvantages? For us it was not so easy to implement the GI-WHAT project in our rather big organization. The film competition allowed us to spread the content of the project in an informal way. Making a short film ourselves was also lots of fun to do. By filming in the school building people also got curious, so that was also a promotion tool! 88 The European charter for Equality This activity fits under the following actions of the European Charter: ☐ Secure or promote equal access to education and vocational and continuing training for women and men, girls and boys. Eliminate any stereotyped concept of the roles of women and men in all forms of education (3 subactions). ☐The revision of educational materials, of school and other educational programmes and teaching methods, to ensure that they combat stereotypical attitudes and practices. ☒The undertaking of specific actions to encourage non-traditional career choices. ☒The specific inclusion, within courses of civic education and education for citizenship, of elements that emphasize the importance of the equal participation of women and men in the democratic processes. ☒Promote the balanced representation of women and men at all levels of school management and governance. 89 Attachments Attachment 1: The poster of the film festival Attachment 2: Examples of movies 1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO6lDYqeUiY (What if men were women?) 2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jyiypfPJZY (What would you do if you could change gender for one day?) 3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaCgCx-jQT0&feature=c4overview&list=UUW8ywoc3wvxcDFmUedpVNhQ (winners of the contest in Belgium) Attachment 3: cheques 90 91 92 93 Survey Activity for Teachers Practiced in: Çumra District Directorate of National Education / Turkey Target group of this activity: Teachers of the District Directorate Number of people which can be involved in the activity: 1000 Duration of the activity: 1 Year Description of the activity In this activity the teachers are asked to attend the meetings in which they are to given general information about gender issues. The main purpose of the activity is to gain some information about the gender issues in families, education and social life areas via the surveys. Preparation Materials needed in order to do this activity: Papers, pens and posters How to prepare yourself for this activity (from the point of the organizer): At first, try to find out which day and time is suitable for your target group while organizing your activity schedule. Then make some posters or handouts to inform your target group. Give detailed information for your colleagues who will help you to hold the meetings. How to prepare the learners/people involved in the activity: Your subject groups must be informed via e-mails, posters or handouts. Posters and permission papers must be prepared and hung up to the school boards before the meetings. Things to take into account when preparing the activity: Before preparing the activity, the schedule of the meetings should be planned considering their working time. So the meetings should be planned in free times of the teachers and the place should be close to their working place. Consider the number of participants attending your meetings, your subject group must be divided into groups. Doing the activity How to bring the activity into practice? Before giving general information about your topic, give out your surveys to take their views. It will help you to take their all attention on topic. If you intend to give some information about gender issues wait till they finish the surveys. Otherwise you can affect their answers. 94 Things to take into account when bringing the activity into practice: Survey papers shouldn’t include individual information like name, surname etc. except age, education level, marital status and gender. Appreciation How did the project partner experience this activity? What are the advantages? Were there any disadvantages? This activity has a written survey document. While you are working with written documents it is easy to analyze them. But the subjects are limited with the survey elements. It is possible for them to have very good information which you can find useful for your project. But they can’t write them down. If you give some space for them to write other information (a blank space on the page) then it can be hard to put them in order to get a useful and meaningful data. The European charter for Equality This activity fits under the following actions of the European Charter: ☐ Secure or promote equal access to education and vocational and continuing training for women and men, girls and boys. Eliminate any stereotyped concept of the roles of women and men in all forms of education (3 subactions). ☐The revision of educational materials, of school and other educational programmes and teaching methods, to ensure that they combat stereotypical attitudes and practices. ☐The undertaking of specific actions to encourage non-traditional career choices. X The specific inclusion, within courses of civic education and education for citizenship, of elements that emphasize the importance of the equal participation of women and men in the democratic processes. X Promote the balanced representation of women and men at all levels of school management and governance. 95 Attachments Do you believe that there is gender discrimination in your environment? Does any gender discrimination occur in your family? Does the joy of your relative or close friend who receives a new baby depend on whether the baby's gender? Do you believe that gender discrimination can damage the well-known principle of equality between genders? Do you approve specifying the works such as women works or men works? Would you give the same reaction to your daughter or son when an event happens? While planning your child's future, do you consider your child's gender? Do you think that men's leadership attributes are lower than women's? Do you think that women's family responsibilities prevent their career planning? Do you think that men's family responsibilities prevent their career planning? Do you think that women are not adequate training and experience level than men? Do you think that women are less adequate (to jobs), and less experienced than men? Do you think that married women are having a negative impact on business performance? Do you think there is a real equality between the genders? Do you think that positive gender segregation for women is contradictory to the the understanding of democratic equality? Do you think that there is a relationship between gender inequality and poverty? Do you think that there is gender inequality in Education, health and nutrition, labor market participation and other areas? Do you think that gender inequality cuts off men and women from social life? Do you think that eliminating the gender inequality will be the solution of poverty? In your family, are the ideas of women effective while taking desicions ? Age: NEVER SOMETIMES USUALLY GENDER ISSUES SURVEY ALWAYS Attachment 1: Survey 96 Sex: Educational Statue Male Primary Female Secondary High School Associate's degree Bachelor's degree Master Doctorate Married Single Yes No 1 2 3 4 5 6 Occupation Marital Statue Do you have children? If yes, How many? Others 97 Family Seminars Practiced in: Çumra District Directorate of National Education / Turkey Target group of this activity: Family members and their children Number of people which can be involved in the activity: 500 Duration of the activity: 1 year Description of the activity Families are the basic structures of society. And we believe that the main education and some of these problems can be solved by family members. In this activity, you can raise the awareness of gender issues in your area. With the families and their children you can focus on gender issues topic in social, education, working life and family areas. Preparation Materials needed in order to do this activity: Posters, bus ads, a meeting hall, How to prepare yourself for this activity (from the point of the organizer): First of all you should work with teachers, managers and some well known people. So before the meetings they should be trained about the project. How to prepare the learners/people involved in the activity: By means of posters, local newspaper ads, bus ads participants are more aware of your meetings. Thus, it can help you to make more people to involve in the activity. Things to take into account when preparing the activity: The informants and the speakers should be expert on the topic. You can get help from sociologists and pedagogues. The time and the place for the meeting should be arranged suitable for the participants. Doing the activity How to bring the activity into practice? When the time comes, the speakers begin with brief information about why people are there. They can get help from some visuals and records which they get from their previous activities. After the presentations finish, the informants evaluate the feedback with the participants. They both discuss and talk about problems about gender issues familiar to the participants. They try to give paths for their problems together. 98 Things to take into account when bringing the activity into practice: Meeting duration should not be more than two hours otherwise participants can get bored. It can be hard to get whole attention of your participants if they have children with them. Get some help from your colleagues. Appreciation How did the project partner experience this activity? What are the advantages? Were there any disadvantages? These activities are informative. It is difficult to handle such meetings. Because you need to find expert speakers. On the other hand, to get the participants into a place at the planned time is not easy. The European charter for Equality This activity fits under the following actions of the European Charter: ☐ Secure or promote equal access to education and vocational and continuing training for women and men, girls and boys. Eliminate any stereotyped concept of the roles of women and men in all forms of education (3 subactions). ☐The revision of educational materials, of school and other educational programmes and teaching methods, to ensure that they combat stereotypical attitudes and practices. ☐The undertaking of specific actions to encourage non-traditional career choices. X The specific inclusion, within courses of civic education and education for citizenship, of elements that emphasize the importance of the equal participation of women and men in the democratic processes. ☐Promote the balanced representation of women and men at all levels of school management and governance. 99 Attachments Attachment 1: Posters and bus ads 100 101 Family Visits and Surveys Practiced in: Çumra District Directorate of National Education / Turkey Target group of this activity: Families Number of people which can be involved in the activity: Family members 2 to 6 Duration of the activity: 1 Year Description of the activity This activity is planned to get information and opinions of families about gender issues and to get impression from the first hand. Preparation Materials needed in order to do this activity: A small gift and survey papers How to prepare yourself for this activity (from the point of the organizer): First you should prepare your survey document. Then you should create a group of families which represent your area. Then you should arrange your appointment with the families. You also should make a time schedule and follow it. If you want to take some notes you can use a video or audio recorder but you first notice them about recording. Or just take one of your colleagues with you. It’s better to have a opposite gender colleague. First make your survey. After surveys finish, go on with the topic “gender issues in families”. How to prepare the learners/people involved in the activity: Notification letters should be sent before the family visits to inform them about your time of visit and also what the meetings are for. Or just call them. Things to take into account when preparing the activity: While choosing the families, try to create a homogeneous list. Prepare notification letters describing the visits. Send notification letters to the families who will participate in the activities. Doing the activity How to bring the activity into practice? First of all it is a good idea to take a small gift for host with you when you visit the families. After a small conversation with the family, ask them to fill in the surveys. After they finish, take the surveys and ask them whether it is possible to make an interview with them or not. Things to take into account when bringing the activity into practice: Visit just one family in a day. Be polite, try not to be informative, and try to make them feel comfortable with you. If interview goes with another topic not related to your subject, try to get the attention to your topic in a polite way but don’t rush. Try not to be repetitive that can make people uncomfortable. 102 Appreciation How did the project partner experience this activity? What are the advantages? Were there any disadvantages? This activity has some advantages. You can get far more information than you can get from a written activity. The data you get from the visit by records and interviews can be a rich source for your project. The European charter for Equality This activity fits under the following actions of the European Charter: ☐ Secure or promote equal access to education and vocational and continuing training for women and men, girls and boys. Eliminate any stereotyped concept of the roles of women and men in all forms of education (3 subactions). ☐The revision of educational materials, of school and other educational programmes and teaching methods, to ensure that they combat stereotypical attitudes and practices. ☐The undertaking of specific actions to encourage non-traditional career choices. X The specific inclusion, within courses of civic education and education for citizenship, of elements that emphasize the importance of the equal participation of women and men in the democratic processes. ☐ Promote the balanced representation of women and men at all levels of school management and governance. Attachments Attachment 1: Notification Letters Dear Parent, Since 2011, we have been carrying out a project called "GI-WHAT; Gender Issues; why hide a truth" In this part of the project we have been studying on gender equality in our district. Through this letter we would like to take your permission to visit you in your house at 9 p.m on …./…../2013 Best regards, (Your contact details) 103 Do you believe that there is gender discrimination in your environment? Does any gender discrimination occur in your family? Does the joy of your relative or close friend who receives a new baby depend on whether the baby's gender? Do you believe that gender discrimination can damage the well-known principle of equality between genders? Do you approve specifying the works such as women works or men works? Would you give the same reaction to your daughter or son when an event happens? While planning your child's future, do you consider your child's gender? Do you think that men's leadership attributes are lower than women's? Do you think that women's family responsibilities prevent their career planning? Do you think that men's family responsibilities prevent their career planning? Do you think that women are not adequate training and experience level than men? Do you think that women are less adequate (to jobs), and less experienced than men? Do you think that married women are having a negative impact on business performance? Do you think there is a real equality between the genders? Do you think that positive gender segregation for women is contradictory to the the understanding of democratic equality? Do you think that there is a relationship between gender inequality and poverty? Do you think that there is gender inequality in Education, health and nutrition, labor market participation and other areas? Do you think that gender inequality cuts off men and women from social life? NEVER SOMETIMES USUALLY GENDER ISSUES SURVEY ALWAYS Attachment 2: Survey 104 Do you think that eliminating the gender inequality will be the solution of poverty? In your family, are the ideas of women effective while taking desicions ? Age: Sex: Educational Statue Male Primary Female Secondary High School Associate's degree Bachelor's degree Master Doctorate Married Single Yes No 1 2 3 4 5 6 Occupation Marital Statue Do you have children? If yes, How many? Others 105 Typical man and typical woman Practiced in Equal Chances, Moravian-Silesian region, Czech Republic and CVO Antwerpen, Belgium Target group of this activity: Students of all ages. In Belgium, these discussions were held in 2 different classes with participants aged 20 up to 38, of very mixed backgrounds (religion, nationality, income…). Number of people which can be involved in the activity: 5-20 Duration of the activity: 45 min. Description of the activity 1. Let your students make a mind map of typical behaviour and skills of women and men. Then organise a discussion on the outcomes. This way, you are challenging the traditional perception of looking at gender stereotypes. 2. Or have your students discuss the disadvantages and advantages of being a woman or man in society today. Preparation Materials needed in order to do this activity: Flipcharts, pens, glue How to prepare yourself for this activity (from the point of the organizer): Arrange the classroom in order to allow group works. Try to reflect on some examples to demonstrate to your students what is expected. How to prepare the learners/people involved in the activity: No specific preparation is needed. Things to take into account when preparing the activity: Some of the outcomes might look hilarious to your students. Try to make them reflect on why they find them funny instead of encouraging them to laugh with these stereotypes. Doing the activity How to bring the activity into practice? Activity 1 a) Give everyone a few cards. Challenge the participants to write down at least two properties of: - typically human; typically female; 106 - typically male. b) Give your students 5-10 minutes to reflect on what to write on the card. c) When the participants are working, prepare the board or flipchart by drawing 3 columns: typically human / typically male / typically female d) Ask the participants to glue their cards into the columns, and read the results out loud. When reading the results, start the discussion by asking for more information or asking your students why they have written this down. Ask other students for their opinion. Activity 2 Divide the participants into four groups. You could create 2 female groups and 2 male groups but this is not obligated. Each group discusses one specific topic and presents their conclusions to the rest of the group (10 minutes preparation, 4 x 4 min. per presentation). If you chose to create female and male groups let the female groups reflect on the (dis)advantages of being a man and vice versa. 1. 2. 3. 4. Group 1: What are the advantages of being a man in society today? Group 2: What are the disadvantages or limitations of being a man in society today? Group 3: What are the advantages of being a woman in society today? Group 4: What are the disadvantages or limitations of being a woman in society today? Draw the following column on the board to write down all the results during the presentations: Advantages Disadvantages Men Women The discussion should be directed to: the effect gender stereotyping has on the freedom of individuals (eg, choice of career, life priorities, etc.); the difference between sex and gender (biologically versus socially aspects of "femininity" and "masculinity"). Encourage the discussion with questions such as: How did you make decisions in your group? Was it easy to agree on a "typical characteristics”? Were some issues harder to agree on than others? Which of the stereotypes do your students feel they should be eliminated? How can this be achieved? What is the reason for some of the (dis)advantages part? Things to take into account when bringing the activity into practice: Gender issues are often a sensitive topic, so try to let every student have their say. 107 Appreciation How did the project partner experience this activity? What are the advantages? Were there any disadvantages? You might be surprised as a teacher! In Belgium, the outcome was surprising, in 2 groups where the teacher conducted this ‘test’: regardless of nationality, age and race, traditional opinions persist, maybe stronger with the male than with the female participants, like: ‘Women should stay at home when having young children, because mothers are better caretakers.” In both classes where these discussions were held, the outcome led to very open, lively discussions and to reflection and a certain awareness. The European charter for Equality This activity fits under the following actions of the European Charter: ☐ Secure or promote equal access to education and vocational and continuing training for women and men, girls and boys. Eliminate any stereotyped concept of the roles of women and men in all forms of education (3 subactions). ☐The revision of educational materials, of school and other educational programmes and teaching methods, to ensure that they combat stereotypical attitudes and practices. ☐The undertaking of specific actions to encourage non-traditional career choices. X The specific inclusion, within courses of civic education and education for citizenship, of elements that emphasize the importance of the equal participation of women and men in the democratic processes. ☐Promote the balanced representation of women and men at all levels of school management and governance. 108 Gender issues and comics Practiced in: CVO Antwerpen, Belgium Target group of this activity: students, min. 15 years old Number of people which can be involved in the activity: you can have as many students involved as you wish but it is advisable to have a maximum of 20 students (5 groups). Duration of the activity: 3,5 hours Description of the activity This activity aims at letting your students reflect on a specific situation where gender issues make a (negative) difference. It also challenges your students to visualize a specific situation and work on their IT skills. Preparation Materials needed in order to do this activity: Internet connection 1 camera or phone per group Wires to upload the pictures from the camera or phone 1 computer or laptop per group Additional: some attributes used in household or specific male or female clothes How to prepare yourself for this activity (from the point of the organizer): Make sure you have the above mentioned materials ready. Check first whether they work properly. Make sure you know how Pixton works so you can answer the questions of your students. Try to create a comic yourself or watch the instruction movies on http://www.pixton.com/schools/overview (help section). In order to speed things up, you can already create the accounts on www.pixton.com by using the 30 day free trial. How to prepare the learners/people involved in the activity: You can use the examples (see attachment) to show to your students what is expected from them. You could ask your students to think about a situation where gender issues play a negative role during the first lesson. The second lesson could then be used to create the comic. This will allow students to bring the materials they need with them. A prepatory exercise could help to stimulate your students (for example: typical man and typical woman). 109 Doing the activity How to bring the activity into practice? Divide your class into groups of 4 persons. Ask them to think of a situation where it is a disadvantage to be a woman or a man. Having them reflect on their own daily life is advisable. Then ask them to think about a way to avoid or solve this situation. Give them about 20 minutes to think about this. Then ask each group to present their situation and solution. Tell them in advance they only get 30 seconds (max. 1 minute) to present their idea. This is a first step in having them eliminate all extra information. Give all groups max. 30 minutes to develop their idea in 6 different frames. Tell them to draw these frames out (see attachment). You as a teacher should be able to ‘visit’ every group and assist them in case they have difficulties to tell their story in 6 frames. 3,2,1 … action! Time to make the pictures. Give your students enough time to shoot these pictures. 1h should do it as they already drew what they expect of every picture. Once your students uploaded their pictures on the laptop or computer, tell them to go to pixton.com and give them their login details. As the tool is quite easy to use, you only have to show them the basic layout of the work space. It is then up to them to explore the different possibilities. However, if you feel your students need extra information, you can show them the following tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJzHAZtIpio&feature=share&list=UUdH8AOyT4c_MFsTrIbHgp0Q. Give your students 1 hour to finalize the comics. You could give a signal after every 15 minutes so every student gets his or her time to work on the comic. Then beam every comic on the white board and ask 1 representative per group to give some explanation to the comic or read the text out loud. You could ask the other students to give scores to the comics, making it a comic competition. Things to take into account when bringing the activity into practice: Your students will probably have to leave the classroom to take the pictures they need to create their comic. Be sure to communicate clearly how much time they have and how far they are allowed to go. If it would not be possible to use cameras and take pictures, your students can also create a comic by using the figures made available by Pixon. Appreciation How did the project partner experience this activity? What are the advantages? Were there any disadvantages? Your students will enjoy this activity as it allows them to be creative with gender issues. 110 The European charter for Equality This activity fits under the following actions of the European Charter: ☐ Secure or promote equal access to education and vocational and continuing training for women and men, girls and boys. Eliminate any stereotyped concept of the roles of women and men in all forms of education (3 subactions). ☐The revision of educational materials, of school and other educational programmes and teaching methods, to ensure that they combat stereotypical attitudes and practices. X The undertaking of specific actions to encourage non-traditional career choices. X The specific inclusion, within courses of civic education and education for citizenship, of elements that emphasize the importance of the equal participation of women and men in the democratic processes. ☐ Promote the balanced representation of women and men at all levels of school management and governance. Attachments Attachment 1: examples 111 Attachment 2: storyboard (to be used by the students when developing their idea) 112 1 2 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3 4 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 113 5 6 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………… 114 www.gi-what.eu 115