MOSAIC - The training kit for Euro-Mediterranean youth work

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and raise the awareness of gender inequalities one step higher. Some of these gendersensitive
methods can be: using both female and male trainers; working in single-sex
groups; using examples from female and male “worlds”; being aware of suppression
techniques and being conscious of them; and sharing the time equally between participants
of both sexes. 190
Mainstreaming gender 191
Any kind of training course or learning activity can apply a gender mainstreaming
approach, whatever the subject is. Leaders and participants can observe patterns of
behaviour among men and women, and these can be addressed. The trainers’ or
youth leaders’ own actions and attitudes can create awareness about the equality in
value of women and men. Unequal and biased assumptions and norms can be challenged
by being conscious, for example, of the language used, examples chosen and
the role models referred to. This means that the gender aspect becomes explicit in
each and every part of a youth activity at each stage from preparation to evaluation.
Youth organisations can be active players in overcoming gender inequalities if they
are encouraged to take on board seriously the issues of gender equality, women’s
rights and minority rights as a matter of fundamental relevance for the well-being of
all young people in society. 192 For example, they can: develop strategies on project
management, funding and realistic planning aimed at young women and other under-represented
groups; always consider the gender balance in their programmes and
attitudes; and promote direct exchanges to overcome distance and to avoid misunderstandings
and stereotypes in the Euro-Mediterranean region. 193
Follow the Women (FTW) 194
This is an international organisation of about 500 women, from 40 different countries,
who support peace and an end to violence in the Middle East. The best-known activity
of Follow the Women is Pedal for Peace in the Middle East, a unique event organised by
a group of women to cycle across a number of countries in the Middle East to raise
awareness of how the current situation in the Middle East affects the lives of women (and
children) as well as to raise support for a move towards peace. Follow The Women gives
women the opportunity to have a say, be in control and have a powerful and influential
impact on those around them by hundreds of women all cycling at the same time.
The organisation and its representatives continue to work, between rides, on various
related projects. In addition to the conferences run by FTW, supporters promote the organisation’s
aims in their local communities among their families and friends, with talks
and presentations to local groups. The organisation already has a number of projects and
offers grants to other organisations and projects whose objectives complement those of
Follow the Women. All of Follow the Women’s activities focus on women and children,
and use sport as a vehicle to enable the coming together and better understanding of
different cultures and people.
Notes
1. Council of Europe (2008) Gender matters - a manual on addressing gender-based violence affecting young people,
Council of Europe Publications. Available online at www.eycb.coe.int/gendermatters.
2. Ibid.
Themes