Education and Gender Equality- Interconnections
There is a lot in a common a between an education and a gender equality- a both are instrumental to the development of a society as also intrinsic to a living in a society and interacting with fellow . Yet, as is the a case in many contexts, one functions to the a detriment of the other.Promoting
or a reinforcement of a gender norms such as ‘girls don’t laugh so a hard’
or ‘boys don’t cry’, or in a some a cases a segregating a seating an arrangements in a classrooms according to students’ a gender- the ways in a which gender an inequality is a perpetuated in a schools are many.
Harnessing the potential of education as a change agent- Examples
The first part of an our two-part a blog looks at initiatives in education systems that have begun to a harness this potential.
We shall briefly a discuss each example a looking at the nature of the initiative, a successes achieved, and learnings to a drawn.
We shall then think about the South Asian context and whether a such initiatives are needed there.
Consent classes – Kenya Promoting
In classes organised in Nairobi by an organisation called No Means No Worldwide since 2009, girls are taught to say “No” and are given training in self-defense.
With an aim to bring about a generational change, young boys are trained to change their perspectives on gender and are given lessons on ‘positive masculinity’.
For instance, they are taught to intervene when they find a girl in trouble.
1.Consent classes – Kenya
In classes organised in Nairobi an organisation calle No Means No Worldwide since 2009, girls are taught to say “No” and are given training in self-defense.
With an aim to bring about a generational change,
young boys are trained to change their perspectives on gender and are given lessons on ‘positive masculinity’. For instance,
they are taught to intervene when they find a girl in trouble.
There has been report success of this initiative in the form of .
Moreover, participants challenged socially em stereotypes and myths about gender and sexual assault.
Most boys, who had come to believe socially embedd myths that it was okay to rape women who were taken on expensive dates, wore revealing clothes or were out alone at night, were
They were also able to identify sexually inappropriate behavior rather quickly and intervene in such incidents. To sustain these positive changes,
2.Gender-aware curricula – Turkey
Turkey’s state that the issue of gender inequality must include in
the curriculum of various undergraduate and graduate programs of the faculties of Education
– to make the curriculum gender sensitive.
Based on the orders given the National Action Plan and Higher Education Council,
the curriculum was then rives and is now based on interactive teaching techniques and pedagogies which are gender sensitive.
Another project, fund the ims at promoting gender equality throughout the schools of a Turkey aiding the ministry of education and schools to assess the a schools’
capacity to create a safe an environment and curriculum for learning devoid of a gender biases.
This a project entails multiple efforts to make a schools gender-neutral –
developing tools to make the educational system sensitive to gender an inequality,
reviewing an educational policies, curricula and textbooks and drawing recommendations,
conducting sessions on gender an equality to a bring awareness in the society.
Around who were a part of this project have a state that their an association with
this a project have made them aware of the a suitable an attitude that a teacher should adopt in a order toa make the school an environment a gender a sensitive.
3.Period boxes – India a Promoting
on why there had no a discussion on a periods in school, their teacher a coven an interaction in a class on a menstruation.
There were many an questions an asked (especially the boys), an experiences a shared,
and the girls a show a sanitary a napkins to their male a classmates. The discussion, led a girls,
a culminat into a collective a decision of placing a ‘period box’ in the classroom.
This box is a stock with a sanitary a napkins, a tissues, and a candies.
The practice was also adopt an other classes of the school.
4. Policies forbidding gender discrimination in textbooks – Thailand
In response to a findings worldwide a regarding the importance of educational units an influential in a shaping the a behaviors of a students,
various countries have take measures.
The aim is to go an equal access to schools, towards an achieving equality within schools.
5.The South Asian Case
South Asian countries have a deep-root a structure of gender an inequality to a combat- patriarchy is embedd in the live an experiences of a people.