Panel H.03 — Facilitating education communities to analyse gender inequalities and create systemic change to tackle discrimination and violence
Convenors Valentina Pedani (INDIRE, Italy); Daniela Bagattini (INDIRE, Italy); Areta Marianna Sobieraj (OXFAM Italia, Italy)
Keywords Schools, educational institutions, combating gender discrimination, preventing gender-based violence
Schools and other educational institutions play a very important role in combating gender discrimination and preventing gender-based violence. Gender discrimination means, for example, being excluded or feeling excluded from education or from a training opportunity because of one’s gender. On the other hand, gender stereotypes, i.e. generalised roles and attributes based on gender, are real cages (Biemmi-Leonelli 2017) that can lead to exclusion, segregation (including educational self-segregation) disengagement from studying and/or being at school as well as forcing students to drop out of school.
International legislation (such as CEDAW or the Istanbul Convention) and national policies (such as LA BUONA SCUOLA in Italy and National Strategic Plans against Sexual and Gender Based Violence) require schools to play an important role in tackling gender discrimination and violence. Supporting schools in this pivotal role means, amongst others: developing trainings for school staff (including management, teachers and non-teaching staff); testing and using monitoring and self-assessment tools to promote gender equality in schools; developing assessment tools to systematically collect students’ opinions and attitudes regarding socio-emotional learning and relationships as well as their sense of self-efficacy on gender issues in different subjects.
In this panel, we welcome presentations, which on the one hand illustrate experience, case studies, tools (for example Gender Equality Charter Marks), action research and approaches which favour education communities to reflect upon the dynamics which perpetrate gender discrimination and violence. On the other hand, the presentations should also aim at proposing whole school approaches (decision-making processes, teaching and learning methodologies, student led initiatives, etc) which propose systemic change to promote gender equality.