Escuela Popular de Género

Aims of the practice and description of participants -	Vulnerable women who are living in the poor neighborhoods of Santa Fé – Argentina and have mostly a low education level or are illiterate. Some of them knew each other and all were involved through a neighborhood association. -	Raise awareness of women about their rights, situations of fragility, gender stereotypes and to help them recognize/take actions against psychological violence. -	Construction of a support network that goes beyond training meetings.

Resources, Materials needed -	Comfortable and spacious places such as cultural centers or associations offices. -	Facilitators such as doctors, educators, social workers and journalists. -	Projectors, computers and video cameras.

Duration 5 months.

Step-by-step - what has to be done? The practice is based on thematic workshops that include socialization games but also active and participatory listening such as: -	Role-playing games, simulated situations, laboraty activities and activities using media/newspapers, videos, songs and advertisements in order to recognize stereotypes and psychological violence. -	Simulated games about various topics such as everyday life roles. -	Sharing stories between participants that are related to the belonging to the female gender. For instance, women could report the violence they have suffered. -	Sex education lessons. -	Women’s rights lessons. Moreover, this practice enhanced women to access to the contraceptive methods more easily and for some of them to constituted laboratories in order to educate those who had not been able to participate to the practice.

Learning Outcomes - which skills are addressed? -	Team-working and ability to listen and speak to each other. -	Group and gender belonging. -	Ability to adopt a critical reflection and point of view. -	Ability to empathize with others.

How do you check the outcomes are reached? -	Creation of a virtuous circle between participants and other women.