Walk in my shoes
Walk in my shoes
RATIONALE
Often, discrimination is generated by the inability of a person to show empathy and understand what is it like for the other to face different barriers. This activity allows participants to put themselves in the position of someone who is of a different gender.
RESOURCES
- Time: 45 – 60 min
- Materials: printed role cards, one for each of the participants
INSTRUCTIONS
Depending one the type of training you are making, there are two ways of doing this activity:
- Addressing the more complex issues regarding agender, bigender and transgender). In this case, at the end of the activity you also need to explain that the list of genders that was included is not exhaustive (there are more gender identities than the 5), but the objective was not to introduce them all but to put participants in the shoes of different genders.
- Addressing gender in the simplistic, dual way (masculine and feminine), especially useful in short workshops, when you don’t have the time to discuss the differences between gender and sex and the various gender identities that exist.
Option a)
Offer some of the participants one of the “Gender” cards (see annex). Tell participants not to reveal their identity to the others just yet. Ask them to read it and imagine that they just woke up as a different person, the one that is on the card they got (in case they are not very clear about the definitions, participants are encouraged to ask the trainers for more info in private).
Option b)
Ask participants to imagine that they just woke up as a person of the opposite sex (females woke up as males and vice versa).
- Explain the rationale of this exercise, the fact that we rarely take the time to think what is it like for the other to live in our society. This activity allows participants to put themselves “in the shoes” of someone who is of a different gender.
- Offer each participant one copy of the handout of this activity and offer them 10 – 15 minutes to reflect on the questions they have there.
Option a)
Ask participants to group by the card they got (all persons with “agender”, all the ones with “bigender”, etc.).
Option b)
Ask participants to group by sex (all women and all men).
- Have all the groups align in a big circle and divide them into 5 groups (or two groups for option b), by counting each of them from 1 to 5. Like this you will make 5 teams who have at least one of each identity.
- Ask participants to share their answers in the teams.
- Reconvene the group and ask each of them to share their identity, also explaining what each of them means.
DEBRIEFING AND EVALUATION
- How did you feel to participate in this activity?
- Were there any answers that surprised you?
- Where there any questions that you considered to be more difficult?
- Some of you declared to have felt bad. If just imagining this for few minutes made you feel bad, can you imagine how it is for the people who live a whole life like this?
- What was your answer to question number 10 (“Would your life be better or worst...?”) and why?
- Did you manage to imagine how it would be to have this different identity?
- How can this activity help us understand gender based discrimination?
HANDOUTS
AGENDER
A person with no (or very little) connection to the traditional system of gender, no personal alignment with the concepts of either man or woman, and/or someone who sees themselves as existing without gender. Sometimes called gender neutrois, gender neutral, or genderless
e.g. a person for whom wearing clothes or having hair styles that are typically associated to males feel equally comfortable as wearing clothes or having hair styles that are typically associated to females
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BIGENDER
A person who fluctuates between traditionally “woman” and “man” gender-based behaviour and identities (and sometimes a third gender);
e.g. a person who in some aspects of life feels it identifies more with the male gender while in other with the female gender
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TRANSGENDER
A person who lives as a member of a gender other than that assigned at birth based on anatomical sex
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A gender that does not currently represent you between “Masculine” and “Feminine”
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source of the definitions: http://itspronouncedmetrosexual.com
Walk in my shoes
- What are the main changes that will happen in your life?
- As this new person, do you think you will have more power in society or less (regarding relationships with the other members of the society, how others value you, having a political involvement or even a political career, etc.)?
- As this new person, do you think you will have more chances of having a good carrier or less (being promoted, becoming the manager of your department or company, etc.)
- Will there be some jobs that will not be as accessible to you as they are now? Will there be some that are more accessible than they are now?
- Will you feel safer in your environment or less safe (at home, going out, at work, travelling)?
- How will your role in the family change (related to your partner, your parents, your siblings, your children, to your household duties, decision making in the family, safety, etc.).
- Will you face some pressure from society, family, friends, colleagues, etc. that you are currently not facing?
- Will there be things you are able to do now that you cannot do anymore?
- What changes in your attitude do you think might happen?
- Compared to your current situation, would this new identity bring you a better or worst life?
The Veil
The Veil
RATIONALE OF THE EXERCISE
Exploring gender-based discrimination can be a difficult task for most of us. What we see is only the surface of a deeper issue. The purpose of this activity is to give to the participants a close look on how discrimination works and how the issue is affecting the targeted person.
RESOURCES
Seven large scarfs that can be draped over a volunteer’s head obscuring their vision, a slideshow with the statements from the annexed document, projected in the room.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Ask a participant to volunteer and stand in the middle of the room.
- Ask another volunteer to read out the first statement of a series of seven and is ask him/her to place a veil over the participant in the middle of the room.
- Ask a second volunteer to read the next statement and put another veil. Repeat this process until the last of the veils has been used.
- Once all seven veils have been placed over the volunteer, the second set of statements is read out, in the same manner. The difference is that, after each statement a veil is removed.
- After the debriefing it is recommended to have a short "shake-off" activity (asking the participants to shake off their body parts in order to disconnect from the experience) or a group hug. This will allow the participants to disconnect from the emotions of the activity.
Discussion questions:
- How was it? How did you feel during this activity?
- What did the person who put the veil felt when he/she had to do that?
- What do they feel on the moment the veils had to come off?
- Why do you think we did this activity?
- What could we learn from this activity?
- Is this similar with any situation from your life/community?
Facilitator notes:
- It is important that this activity is done in a serious atmosphere, with no jokes, interruptions, etc.
- Ask the participant to read loud and clear from the screen and to be as close as possible to the volunteer in the middle of the room.
Adapted from: Young People and Extremism, A resource pack for youth Workers, British Council 2017 – The Veil Exercise – by Farkhanda Chaudry and Ghizala Avan
Statements to read/project on the screen
Laura is a 24 years old woman that is working for an accounting company. She lives in a suburb with her family
- My job is pretty good and it brings me a steady income. Still, I found out that, for the same amount of work, my co-worker is getting a bigger salary.
- Almost every evening, when I’m returning from work I walk by a construction site. When I am alone, the workers there always try to flirt with me. I fell unsafe!
- When I get home I see that my partner, who is unemployed and stays home, did not do any of the house works. I have to clean the dishes, wash all the laundry and cook dinner after a full working day. I feel angry!
- Today I applied for a promotion but did not get it. Instead, my male colleague, who is un-married and has no children, got the promotion. He can work overtime...
- On my way to work I meet my friend, Diana. She told me that her husband came home drunk, they had a fight and she pushed her. She feels now very afraid of him. Makes me feel sick and angry!
- I spoke with my sister who just got pregnant with her boyfriend and does not have any plans to get married. For sure she will be judged and will have problems inside our extended family.
- I feel really uncomfortable with everything that is happening. I think that I have no support and my job and housework are getting more and more difficult to handle in the same time. I feel really depressed and I see no way out of this situation.
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- My friend, Ana, told me today that she is participating in a workshop on equal rights and opportunities. She convinced me to go and see what it is about.
- I found out that sometimes you have to stand up for your rights even if it is hard. I will participate again in the workshop because I met there people with very interesting points of view.
- Today, when I arrived home I confronted my partner on not doing anything inside the house. I explained him my feelings and why I need his help. He promised me that he would be more helpful.
- At my job I had a meeting with my boss. I told him that I will not accept to be paid less than my male colleague and that this is against the law. I convinced him that I work the same and I am doing my job at the same standards like everyone else. After the talk I felt more empowered and proud of myself.
- My sister just told everyone that she is pregnant but does not want to marry her partner. I stood by her and encouraged her to make her own decisions, without the influence of others. She knows what is best for her life. I felt very proud of her.
- I talked with all my female colleagues form work and told them about the differences in payments on equal jobs. We are now determined to change that situation.
- I am now volunteering for an NGO that works for equal rights and opportunities. I am organizing workshops to help people understand this concept and how they can improve their life.
The mechanism of oppression
The mechanism of oppression
RATIONALE
This activity provides a model that demonstrates how different levels of discrimination are interlinked and affect each other.
RESOURCES
- Time: 60 minutes
- Materials: Flip chart and markers
- Preparation: Enough room to work in small groups
INSTRUCTIONS
- Begin by summarizing some of the main topics addressed by the training so far. The participants should have had a chance to examine issues of identity, stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination. They looked at personal experiences, as well as institutional examples of discrimination. In this activity, participants will have the chance to explore the concept of oppression, and analyse the way in which it functions in society.
- Ask participants what oppression means to them. Elicit a few comments and write them on the flip chart. Drawing upon participants impressions of oppression, explain that it means to put down, weigh down, to crush, and burden. The opposite of oppression is liberation. Continue explaining the mechanism of oppression with the following description:
“In the last activities, we looked at how discrimination prevents people from having equal opportunities. Have lesser or greater opportunities in life because of someone’s ethnicity or gender, physical ability or sexual orientation, accumulates over time, holding someone back, or helping them succeed.”
[Draw one circle on the flip chart and write the word “Institutions”]
An example of institutional discrimination is when women earn less than men for the same job. This institutional practice is rooted in an ideology that has existed for a long time and has only begun to really change in more recent generations. Another example are the countries which do not allow the fathers to take any parental leave when they have a child, considering that this should be exclusively the role of the mother
[Draw a second circle on the flip chart, and write the word “Ideology.”]
This ideology has dictated the roles of men and women in society, and it has asserted that a man’s role is to be the “bread winner” in the family, to be the one who supports the family financially. The woman’s role is to take care of the home and the family by cooking, cleaning and providing emotional support.
This ideology, combined with the reality of men earning more, and having more opportunities to work for financial gain, has definite effects on the interpersonal interactions between men and women, and amongst men and amongst women.
[Draw a third circle and write the word “Interpersonal.”]
In fact, the majority of families today have two working parents, and girls today receive educational and professional opportunities that do not compare to the situation 40 years ago. Yet many women will report the feeling of having two jobs. After a day at the office, they come home to take on the larger portion of housework and childcare. Pressure from all sides to be more available, to be a better wife, mother, or worker, takes place in the interpersonal realm of oppression.
And finally, the effect of this pressure on the woman in this situation, and the fact that throughout their lives they live in this ideological model makes some of them take it for granted and internalise it. It is not seldom for women to come to believe inside themselves the ideology that is supported by institutions and culture.
[Draw the fourth circle and write the word “Internalisation”]
“A woman who is exhausted after working a job, just as a man, and then gives all her other time for house work and family care, and somehow feels guilty or inadequate, has internalised social expectations of her. The same is true for a man who feels an extraordinary amount of pressure to earn enough money for the family, and may sacrifice his own potential to fulfil his pre-determined role as a man One more extreme example is that there are still a lot of countries in which domestic violence is still accepted as normal by men and also by women, even if they are the typical victims.”
“These four dimensions of oppression overlap and interact. Like gears in a mechanism, they turn each other. (With a marker, show how they rotate on the flip chart while explaining.) Sometimes people argue about which approach is more important, institutional – focusing on policies, or individual – focusing on people’s attitudes. In fact, these dimensions of discrimination are interdependent.”
- Check if participants have any questions. Then tell them that they will work in small groups to explore how different forms of oppression are operating in society. The example given was of sexism, or gender oppression.
- Divide participants into four groups, to come up with another example of oppression and how it manifests in each of the four dimensions.
- Give them a piece of flip chart to record their example. Each group is assigned a specific form to explore:
* Gender (Sexism) – ask them to find other examples
* Sexual Orientation (Homophobia, Heterosexism)
- Reconvene the whole group and ask each small group to share their example and analysis. Allow 5-10 minutes for questions and comments following the reporting from each group. After all the groups have reported, lead a discussion with the following questions.
DEBRIEFING & EVALUATION
- Looking at these different forms of oppression, do you have any observations to make?
- What measures have you seen or taken to break the cycle of oppression?
- What are the obstacles or blocks that can prevent some anti- discrimination measures from working?
Source: “A World of Difference” Manual, EPTO || The Anti-Defamation League
Appendix
The mechanism of oppression
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