Gender Conscious Movie Night

We’re all aware of how gender stereotypes in movies and TV shows can negatively affect our perceptions of ourselves or others; however, watching movies is a fun activity to do with kids, women, men, your host family, or other community members. Many schools use movie nights as a way to collect money for a specific purpose or event—charging one or two córdobas as an entrance fee and hosting it at school once classes are over.

In this post we’ll discuss two ideas for making movie nights a little more gender conscious: (1) including a gender checklist while watching any movie or (2) showing a gender-equality themed movie or documentary like Girl Rising or Half the Sky.

Global Gender Gap--where does Nica stand?

Since 2006 the World Economic Forum has produced an annual Global Gender Gap Report. When Hannah, a health volunteer in rural Matagalpa, heard that in 2012 Nicaragua ranked inside the top ten while the US held a spot at #22, she felt there was some investigating and reflecting to do.

The following post was originally published on Hannah’s personal blog on March 29^th, 2013 and is re-posted here with her permission. 

When the tables are turned...

The short video "Oppressed Majority" (click here for link) does a great job of showing what many daily experiences for women might look like if it were men in their shoes instead.

The director  Eléonore Pourriat actually made the film five years ago in France, but only recently did it receive intense internet attention. As written in an article on the Guardian Women's blog, "Pourriat realised that the film had gone viral only when she started seeing activity on Facebook. Her YouTube mailbox filled up, but the messages were so aggressive she deleted them. "I kept one though because really, you can't believe it. Someone said: 'More patronising feminist bullshit. Keep whining, bitches!' When I read that, I was more convinced than ever that I have to continue to make films." She is already working on her next project – a mockumentary about the removal of pubic hair. 

Resource highlight: Yo Merezco and Yo Tambien Merezco manuals

Peace Corps Volunteers in Honduras created the Yo Merezco manual with the idea of reaching out to young women, ages 10-15, through a course that would encourage positive decision making, especially when it comes to their bodies and sexual relations. After the successful implementation of the manual around the country, health volunteers developed a twin manual for boys: Yo También Merezco.

The four goals of the program are to: 1) postpone sexual relations, 2) empower adolescents and promote self-respect, 3) lower the number of youth who become pregnant, and 4) decrease la rate of HIV transmission and the stigmatization that people living with HIV/AIDS face.

Each chapter is comprised of a different topic with its own objective.

3 step piropo education process

It didn’t take me a long time in country to come to hate the act of receiving piropos; however, it’s taken me the better part of the past year and a half in country to polish my response. During training I remember mostly hearing the advice that carrying on with my business and ignoring it was best, but that never set well with me. After trying many things (most of which only made people laugh at me), I’ve devised the 3 step pioropo education process.

Dinamicas... with a purpose!

12 games you can use, maybe in the classroom, but especially in a youth group or camp setting to get to know participants, increase participation, encourage teamwork, and be active. Some of these you may recognize from your childhood, as a few are common US games, but I think a few will be new…

NGO Highlight: Pro-Mujer

According to their website Pro-Mujer is “una organización de desarrollo de la mujer que proporciona a las mujeres de bajos recursos de América Latina los medios para generarse el sustento y labrar de un futuro para sus familias a través de las microfinanzas, la capacitación en negocios y el apoyo en salud.”