What is gender discrimination?

Posted on by Practitioner BdC

When somebody needs an explanation for a word it’s worth to seek for it in a dictionary. Then, do we strictly agree with that explanation? Or is there something else that we would need to find out to the best explanation?

Let’s try in a random online dictionary to type gender discrimination: «a situation in which someone is treated less well because of their sex, usually when a woman is treated less than a man.» Do you completely agree with that explanation?

These days, spending most of the day streaming in gender in youth work we learnt many things. We would like to highlight a useful one for us: many possibilities exist when talking about gender issues in a human being. There is no more black or white.

So, here we are: a complex but no difficult society to live in if only we respect each other. Are we only talking about women if you hear or read the word gender? Not anymore. Check the cake of sexual identity, simplified in this picture, to fully be aware of the variety.

infographic

Majority, written in non-capital words, appears to be in a comfort area where searching for a word in a dictionary is as simple as it is: dictionary, remember the alphabet, word found. / google it.

Meanwhile, MINORITY, which is a tiny (or silent?!) amount of population goes further and the dictionary is never ever enough.

Although a dictionary can provide you with an explanation of a term or a word, you should always keep in mind that the explanation given may not be the final one and there is always room for deeper contexts and meanings. That is way it is useful and necessary to go further beyond the words, as that is a way to learn. So without that knowledge the red lines in the infographic appear: prejudice, stereotype… and a box full of words that explain the non-desirable actions as oppression, violence in language, physical abuse, … also appears.

Don’t let those red lines be so lightly, allow the green ones spread wider among all the infographic and life. Don’t stay in the comfort area. Let’s take action: learn, read, ask, think critical, don’t conform yourself and share!

Written by Gratian and Daniela from Intercultural Institute Timisoara / Meritxell Vidal Barreda from AHEAD (Barcelona)

Rethinking Masculinities

Posted on by Xavier Baró

AHEAD has submitted the project “Re-Thinking Masculinities”  aimed at educators and youth workers with the main objective is the development of competences and the exchange of best practices aimed at mainstreaming gender in youth work.

The current proposal is the direct follow up of initiatives developed previous years by the Association of Human Rights Educators and its partners on the frames of the youth work mainstreaming gender. On these previous experiences it became obvious that it was essential to provide tools, guidelines and methodological proposals to incorporate young male into gender equality youth work.
This proposal responds to the ongoing follow up of these activities.

37aa1afed4dc601501081eb71d2001a5Through using human rights education and non-formal education methodological approaches, the course specific objectives are:

– To explore how gender roles are constructed and how social conventions impose specific norms for masculinities and femininities in diverse communities.

– To introduce gender mainstreaming methodologies and implement approaches and activities that support the role of youth work actively contributing to de-construct sexist attitudes.

– To develop youth work tools and ideas for incorporating gender mainstreaming specially addressing youth work with boys and young male at community level mainstreaming gender in youth work at the community level;

As concrete results of this mobility we expect to train twenty five Euro-Mediterranean facilitators, the creation of guidelines and of educational tools (modules based on the principles of non-formal education) in order to enhance the participation of young men in the deconstruction of gender roles and sexist attitudes.