In December 2018 the student representatives of the high school “R. Levi Montalcini” in Molfetta, Apulia, asked us to hold a workshop during their “self-management” week.

We designed and developed a two-hour workshop to discuss with them about:

• The concept of “gender” and the social norms connected to it;
• Gender equality, stereotypes and prejudices;
• Gender violence in relationships.

The aim of the workshop is to make students reflect on how gender roles and norms influence daily life and relationships and also to reflect on the impact that gender stereotypes and prejudices have on men, women and people of different sexual and gender orientations, their choices and experiences. We also talked about how gender equality is fundamental for conscious decisions regarding one’s sexual behaviour and life planning.

The course is built on the belief that any form of gender-based violence perpetuated by adults, young people or people in positions of authority is a violation of human rights.

We developed the contents of the workshop following the UNESCO indications published in the report “International technical guidance on sexuality education” (2017) and of course by developing participatory methodologies – paramount for Article 12! – suitable for students aged 15-16.

A big thank you goes to our GenPol-Gender & Policy Insights colleagues, who gave us huge hints to create some of the exercises we did with the youngsters during the workshop.