Gender education is a key tool for achieving equality. We offer books and didactic materials, organise events and workshops, and supervise various educational projects. From Autumn 2024, we will be expanding our range of services: In collaboration with and through funding from Luxembourg City, we will offer workshops in the field of gender education in primary schools in the capital. Raising awareness of gender equality is not only a political but also an educational task that is highly relevant in the current social climate.
This relevance was evident in the debates surrounding petition no. 3198, in which the signatories positioned themselves against the inclusion of LGBTQIA+ and gender-based topics in schools and curricula. Such initiatives illustrate the necessity and urgency of feminist education work: when conservative forces try to keep diversity out of the education system, it becomes all the more clear how crucial it is to strengthen (not only) children and young people in their understanding of gender roles and social norms in order to counteract discrimination and pave the way to a fairer society.
Kaméidi fir Toleranz a Fräiheet: Aktion vom 25.07.24 im CID gegen die Petition Nr.3198 ©CID
The feminist struggle for a just society therefore remains a cross-cutting task that must be fulfilled in many places at the same time. The classroom remains one of the most important “spaces of possibility” for social and emancipatory transformations (Bell Hooks 1994, Teaching to Transgress, Education as the Practice of Freedom, Routledge).
New workshop offer in primary schools from Autumn 2024 (Luxembourg City)
With the financial support of Luxembourg City and the addition of an education specialist to the team, the CID is focussing more on feminist and gender education work in primary schools in Luxembourg City in the new school year. The programme is being continuously expanded in view of current social challenges. The content of the workshops is based on the “Life and Society” (vie et société) curriculum and is developed in consultation with Luxembourg City’s Equal Opportunities Officer, the departments for school education and school medicine, as well as the Ministry of Education.
The first workshop in the series deals with the topic of “Beauty standards and social media” with a view to the standardisation of appearance within patriarchal and capitalist social structures.
The workshop addresses the challenges of body image culture in a child-friendly and interactive way. Children and young people are growing up in a digital world in which they are confronted daily with images and videos that propagate certain ideals of beauty through filters and photo editing. The constant flood of perfected images can significantly affect their self-image and lead to insecurities, eating disorders or even depression. Platforms such as Instagram and TikTok increase the pressure by focusing on self-visualisation and the visualisation of others.
Through self-awareness and group exercises, discussions and creative tasks, answers to key questions are developed: What does beauty mean? Who defines it? Who suffers from the pressure to be beautiful and who benefits from it? What can the greatest possible freedom look like within existing beauty constraints? The aim of the workshop is to give pupils the tools they need to deal with body image in a self-confident and critical manner and to promote their media skills. Practical exercises and techniques help them to assert themselves against the pressure to be beautiful. At the same time, solidarity is encouraged as the children learn to overcome collective powerlessness and competitive pressure and develop joint strategies for action.
The workshop lasts two school hours plus half an hour of preparation and follow-up with the teaching staff and is aimed at cycles 3 and 4 of primary schools in Luxembourg City.
