The Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF) in partnership with the Grenada Spotlight Initiative (GSI) hosted a 2-day training session on Wednesday and Thursday with preschool teachers and other school personnel of the River Sallee Preschool, Paradise Early Childhood Development Centre and the Beausejour Early Childhood Development Centre about the importance of gender socialisation in early childhood.
The training sessions were facilitated by Programme Coordinator Elaine Henry-McQueen and Communications Consultant Anika Davis for the Grenada Spotlight Initiative.
The training sessions sensitised the participants about:
- Distinguishing between sex and gender
- Understanding the social construction of gender
- Examining the agents of socialisation that create and maintain gender stereotypes
- Addressing stereotypes and inequalities to end violence against women and girls
- Learning simple gender analysis of texts, songs, and other social media
- Identifying and tackling gender bias in curriculum materials
The teachers and other school personnel now have increased understanding of the importance of gender in early childhood and are able to examine and deal with unconscious gender biases that have been internalised. They have become aware of society’s expectations about how men and women should dress, behave and what kind of work they should do. Most importantly, they have learned how to challenge these stereotypes that children constantly encounter. They are now better equipped to tackle gender stereotypes in the classroom and have committed to engaging parents to incorporate gender equality at home.
One of the participants stated, “This training has taught me many lessons as a parent and as an educator on how I can interact and engage with children to promote gender equality and I recommend it for other schools and educators”.
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