The project ESHA, funded by the European Commission, is an opportunity to work on the concrete effects of gender stereotypes on human activities in an european point of view. The purpose is to identify the way those stereotypes influence and prevent people from doing things in different areas of life (at home, at school, at work and in society) and fight them by gathering and sharing existing tools and/or creating new adapted ones, useful in every country of the European Union.
The respective situations of men and women are far from equal in the different part of Europe, mostly because of cultural considerations (and therefore stereotypes). Identifying individuals as men or women leads to social expectations and confine them in roles with specific and strictly limited activities. The education plays a large role in the dissemination of stereotypes. That's why this project aims to deconstruct this dissemination process by clearly defining its origins and operational resources, to create innovating tools that could be included in training courses for adults.
ESHA project aims to develop a wider knowledge of gender discrimination in the participating courntries, in order to facilitate further actions in this field. The partners will realise a questionnaire to be filled in their network, learn from its results, gather and analyze the existing education tools, and build up the frame of new tools.
ESHA project aims to develop a wider knowledge of gender discrimination in the participating courntries, in order to facilitate further actions in this field. The partners will realise a questionnaire to be filled in their network, learn from its results, gather and analyze the existing education tools, and build up the frame of new tools.
Objectives of the project
- Defining the concepts of stereotype and gender in each country and built a common definition.
Elaborate a list of the most permanent stereotypes in each country (and the differences between them) and in Europe in general, in relation to family, school, work, leisure or public life. - Writing a short history of the origins and changes of the stereotype regarding to historical events, social and cultural items and economical evolutions. Looking at the implications of thoses steretypes on gender discrimination and how it is experienced by different groups of men and women.
- Considering the current situation in each country and see how stereotypes prevent people from acting in their daily lives, how they spread and what is the impact on the lives of everyone at home, at school, at work and society in general.
- Gathering and sharing existing tools and create new ones to fight gender stereotype in Europe.
The first obvious and most important awaited impact is awareness. Many people in Europe still don't realize that women (or men in certain cases) are discriminated in many parts of their life. Working on this subject, talking about stereotypes, showing how they appear and spread, identifying how they work can help people (especially pupils/learners/trainees and staff we will work with) to consider the concept of gender equality and implement it in their daily life to contribute to a strengthening of democracy, social cohesion and citizenship in education.
Besides, by inducing discussion on the topic between learners and teachers, with other participating institutions, this project will create occasions of real debating and share ideas and proposals to improve the situation of everyone.
It would be also the opportunity to involve participating institutions in the different local projects on this field and give it more weight.