Teaching about Women Empowerment : A Feminist Imperative
Women’s empowerment is a feminist imperative that relies heavily on education as one of its catalysts. Education is an important tool that empowers women to achieve more in their social, career, economic, and family lives as well as challenge traditional gender roles. By extension, teaching about women's empowerment should commence within classrooms given that early awareness lays the foundation for inclusive and positive attitudinal change.
To lay hold of the significance of women’s empowerment through education, it is important to first examine its counterpart, which is the absence of education about women's empowerment. This latter leads to daunting ramifications that limit women’s access to educational and professional opportunities which in turn perpetuates cycles of economic dependence and indigence. Gender-based violence is another disheartening outcome of a lack of education about consent and healthy relationships and behaviors. Without education and intersectionality, young women may not fully understand their experiences, and their representation can be at stake in patriarchal societies in terms of general quality of life, health disparities, as well as restricted productive rights.
On the positive end of the spectrum, when students are educated about women’s empowerment, remarkable turnabouts take place. To exemplify, education about women's empowerment equips them with a knowledge base of women’s historical struggles for emancipation, rights, and potential in their societies. The aforementioned knowledge may also serve as a motive that propels them to recognize and challenge discriminatory practices when encountered and become advocates and activists for gender equality within their own means. The ripple effect of these positive outcomes is directly observable and serves as an investment in future generations. A teacher who makes room for education about women's empowerment is a teacher who invests in young minds. When principles of women's empowerment are carried forward, this will not only create a just and equitable society but will also bring us closer to a world where all women can thrive and achieve their fullest potential.
Practical strategies for teachers :
Indeed, educating students about women empowerment and gender equality in the classroom to create a transferrable awareness among them requires a thoughtful and inclusive approach on the teachers’ end. One of the best tools to allow students to examine women's representation and recognize gender biases is to implement critical media analysis activities wherein teachers discuss the hazardous impact of false media portrayals on society – this can tremendously help students become conscious and critical consumers of media especially when it comes to women representation. Teachers are also recommended to incorporate projects and activities on gender-related topics, hindrances surrounding women's empowerment in their respective societies, and community service initiatives promoting gender equality – working on these types of projects can hone their problem-solving skills and render them action-takers. To walk the extra mile, teachers can invite successful women from miscellaneous fields given that those female role models can provide students with an authentic example of traditional roles’ defiance, success, and growth.
Facilitating respectful and open dialogues wherein students share their thoughts and raise questions about women's empowerment is highly recommendable. All said, teachers must bear in mind that teaching about women empowerment is not a far-reaching idea but rather an achievable and noble purpose that they could work toward while building an amount of empathy and respect among their students.
When all is said and done, we must acknowledge that women's empowerment is not just an aspiration but an imperative for positive change and progress within every society. Educators have a profound role in making women's empowerment education possible and nurture the seeds of inclusivity and intersectionality in them.
References:
Mocan, N., & Cannonier, C. (2012, April 1). Empowering Women through Education: Evidence from Sierra Leone.
NBER Working Paper No. 18016. National
Teaching about women’s empowerment. (n.d.). https://educators4sc.org/teaching-about-womens-empowerment/
About the author:
Chaimae Rachid is a student researcher in Applied Linguistics. She holds a bachelor of education in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from Mohammed V university in Rabat. Chaimae is an ardent advocate for inclusivity and human rights. She is affiliated with the esteemed Politics4Her non-profit intersectional feminist organization as a Research Communications Officer at the global hub.
