Against Gender Discrimination
00:00, March 24, 2011 | Discussions
On March 21, 2011, Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor organized an event on “Against Gender Discrimination”, which was dedicated to the International day for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination within the annual European-wide Action Week against racism initiated by UNITED European Network against Nationalism, Racism, Fascism and in Support of Migrants and Refugees.
Schoolchildren from Vanadzor secondary schools and students from Vanadzor State Pedagogical Institute, Mkhitar Gosh Armenian-Russian International University, and European Regional Educational Academy participated in the workshop.
Each year HCA Vanadzor office initiates various events targeted at presentation and discussion of different topics within the scopes of the action. This time the topic was focused on “Gender Discrimination”. The goal of the event was to raise awareness of youth on different forms of discrimination, particularly, on Gender Discrimination and its stereotypes in our society.
HCA Vanadzor staff and an EVS volunteer from Germany introduced the general concept of Racial Discrimination, various forms of discrimination, specifically, Gender Discrimination and its forms.
The organizers highlighted the significance of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”.
During the event, the participants had a chance to obtain theoretical knowledge as well as took part in the group work activities. Each group presented its work via “frozen picture”, so that others could guess the type of gender inequality. At the end of the workshop the participants expressed their opinions about the event and their perception on the concept of gender as well as the existing opportunities to overcome the stereotypes in their culture.
They were also introduced to UNITED Network activities and the presented materials.
Such events provide opportunities to educate youth that are completely unaware of the presented topics and, therefore, give them a chance to obtain new knowledge and become multipliers for their environment and among their peers.