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The seminar on gender stereotypes held in Pinsk
in November 2001 was the continuation of this idea. The
representatives of NGOs and journalists from Belarus, Ukraine and
Sweden participated in that seminar.
One of the speakers at the seminar was Mia Hannstrom, who had much experience of working with teenaged groups in
Sweden. She said that girls need this kind of work very much as they can increase their
self-confidence, learn to make a decision and to responsible for it, and to try new solutions in conflict
situations.
Mia described the way a girls’ group works. Usually 6-8 girls and a leader of the group meet once a week to discuss issues they consider to be interesting and which can give grounds for
discussion.
In their teens girls want to feel independent and to build their
self-confidence. In this situation they need assistance from an adult female
leader, who has gender awareness and can lead a girls’ group without imposing her own opinion on the
girls.
Why only girls gather in groups?
Usually girls are brought up by family and school with the idea that taking care of the others is their sense of
life. Therefore, girls need to meet from time to time to take some rest in the company of their peers and to raise their competence in different
questions. This does not mean that girls are less self confident, or they are weaker than
boys. Girls usually are forced to play the gender roles which do not encourage them to be
active, to demonstrate their self-confidence and take responsibilities – this is rather
boys’ traditional style of behaviour.
It is easier to change gender roles in a girls’ group. For example, a timid girl is given an opportunity to speak
out, a tough girl allows herself to be cautious and hesitating.
Any girl is welcome to express her point of view; the main demand is to respect
others’ views.
By the way, women who decide to become leaders of girls’ groups gain much from this as it is a good opportunity for their personal
growth.
We got very much interested in girls’ groups activities. We wanted to learn more about the Swedish experience in this
field.
We, 10 women from the Belarusian city of Pinsk, spent the last week of June 2002 in
Stockholm. We studied Swedish gender equality and had training on the empowerment of the
girls’ groups. Our visit was sponsored by the Swedish Institute and organized by Cecilia
Reimers, the project manager.
In the frame of this project the Belarusian NGO Kalegium cooperated with WOCAD
(Women’s Organizations Committee on Alcohol and Drug Issues, which is a
network/umbrella organization for 29 Swedish women’s organizations. About 300 000 women are affiliated to WOCAD through their membership of different women’s
organizations.
WOCAD works with questions regarding alcohol, narcotics and pharmaceuticals from a woman’s
perspective.
Women in Sweden have traditionally drunk less alcohol than men and that is still the
case. But the differences are levelling out, among the younger generation in
particular. So some years ago WOCAD decided to work not only with adult
women, but with teenaged girls and started the project “Girls in
focus”.
We came to Stockholm to study the experience of “Girls in focus” project and formed a “girls’
group”.
Inger Lundmark, the drama pedagogue, was our trainer.
The philosophy of working with girls’ groups and the experience of “Girls in
focus” project is described in the brochure “Rubble and Roses”, which we received from Harriet
Gillberg, the Secretary General of WOCAD. This is a good instrument for
people, who:
- enjoy discussing such issues like self-confidence, lifestyles, love and
drugs;
- think that schools and youth centres ought to invest as much in girls as in
boys;
- think that many girls need to increase their self-confidence.
Katrin Byreus-Hagen, the author of “Rubble and Roses” considers, that working with girls is often “ruby” –
rugged, antagonistic and rough but at the same time “rosy” –
enchanting, beautiful, tender and fun.
In September we start working with girls’ groups in Pinsk and we were looking forward to feel
this.
Please, tell about your experience of being a leader of the girls’
group.
Irina Zheleznova, the social pedagogue and the volunteer of NGO Kalegium:
We advertised the project among 16-year-old girls. Eleven girls came to the first
meeting. Eight girls attended the meetings regularly. There were two leaders in our group – my colleague Elena Mytsko and
me.
Our group met once a week – the girls played motion games, drank tea, participated in different exercises
(for example “Hot chair”, “4 corners”, “Stand on a line”), which gave them an opportunity to express their points of view and listen to the
others. The girls mentioned that they liked to discuss such issues as
love, friendship, relations with parents most of all.
I would like to tell you a bit about Forum Theatre.
Forum Theatre depicts oppression in easily identifiable everyday situations. In a short play – not longer than 5 minutes – one or more people protest against the oppression but fail and the play always ends in “misery” with unsolved
conflicts. The idea is to stimulate the spectators to intervene and bring about a better solution to the simulated
conflict.
After the spectators have seen the play once, they decide what characters were oppressed in the
play. Then someone replaces this actor and acts differently from the original
version. Any girl from the audience, having an idea how to solve the conflict and to stop the oppression shown on the
scene, can shout: “Stop!” and replace the oppressed protagonist. Then she enacts her own
solution.
The group gathered 10 times. The girls said they were looking forward to each meeting and participated in the group work
eagerly. They were surprised to see that we listened to them attentively and were interested in what they were
saying. The girls were also pleased that we did not evaluate them.
Oksana Dubnovitskaya, paediatrician, the member of the Board of NGO Kalegium:
- There were two leaders in our group – Irina Medvedeva and I. We advertised the project among 16 and 17-year-old girls at the secondary
school#18. About 20 girls came to the first meeting. Eight girls attended the meetings
regularly. I can say that such issues as friendship, love and sexuality were the most interesting for our
girls.
They enjoyed playing Forum Theatre, but it was quite complicated for them to think of a plot of the
play. The girls said it was important they took decisions themselves. Usually parents and teachers don’t give them such
possibility. As a rule adults just give instructions and force teenagers to follow
them.
What did you expect from the group work?
Lena Golovach, the member of NGO Kalegium:
- I wanted the girls to understand that they are unique personalities. It was also important for them to learn respecting
others’ points of view. I also want them to feel happy and enjoy
life.
Have you faced any problems in the group work?
Lena Golovach:
- It was hard not to make comments on what girls were saying. I was trying my best to avoid explaining this and
that. I also tried to pay more attention to stimulate discussion among the girls and to participate in the discussion myself as little as
possible.
Zhanna Dolzhenko, the teacher of French and the volunteer of NGO Kalegium:
- I can’t say I faced any problems. I am familiar with such kinds of
activities.
Did you discover anything new during the group work?
Lena Golovach:
- I thought teenaged girls would considerably differ from us, adult
women. But it turned out we have much in common – they have the same problems as
we.
Zhanna Dolzhenko:
- I didn’t expect that the girls would get dependent on the group
meetings. The girls say they miss the group meeting very much.
Irina Medvedeva, the volunteer of NGO Kalegium:
- I didn’t expect that the girls would like such kind of activities. I thought teenagers can hardly get interested in
anything. I was surprised to see the girls actively participated in all the group meetings and enjoyed things they were involved
in.
Did you learn anything new from the group work?
Zhanna Dolzhenko:
- I learnt not to evaluate others’ opinions and avoid comments what is right and what or
wrong. Every one can express her or his point of view – and for me it was important to respect this opinion even if I think
differently.
Irina Medvedeva:
- The program helped me to build me self-confidence. I also improved my speech
skills, learnt to speak out and started to look both at myself and to people around me at a different
angle.
Who helped you to organize the group work?
Nadya Avsievich:
- First of all, the brochure “Rubble and Roses” was very useful for us as leaders of
girls’ groups. If we faced problems we asked our trainer Inger Lundmark for an
advice. By the way Inger and her colleague Erika Marklund came to Pinsk in December 2002. They organized trainings for both
us, leaders, and the girls from our groups. We discussed problems we had faced during our work and got answers to our
questions. Also Inger and Erika showed us new exercises and games to make the group work more
interesting. For three days we, 10 adult women, turned into a girls’ group and tried new methods on
ourselves.
Do you plan to continue the girls’ groups activities?
Irina Medvedeva:
- I think it’s necessary to continue this project. We have many girls who need such activities.
There are several variants how to continue:
- to start girls’ groups in more schools of our city;
- to start working with younger girls’ groups together with the most active girls who have already participated in the project;
- to pass our experience to school social pedagogues and psychologists so they will be able to start girls’ groups at their schools.
Oksana Dubnovitskaya:
- We still keep in touch with 5 girls from our group. We are planning to organize a training on leadership for them.
Cheslava Dudareva, the member of the Board of NGO Kalegium:
- The girls from our group wanted to continue very much. But at the last meeting we had a discussion and decided that this continuation should be something different from just going on meeting. Ten of fourteen girls from our group said they would like to become leaders of younger girls’ groups. My colleague Zhanna and I helped them to plan three first meetings with 10-11 year old girls. They are planning to start next month.
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