by Shawn Dubberly
This Gender and Development (GAD) Committee recently presented at the Meknes HUB. They introduced GAD to the new staj and used exercise as a theme to illustrate various speeds of gender work. Here are some the success stories from the last two years.
Gender and Development Success Stories
Walking, Jogging, Running
“Gender work at all speeds”
Walking
A Male in a Female
Space
Steven
Howard in Goulmima
Steven and his
counterpart Mustapha chose to emphasize "International Girls' Day" at
their Leadership Class at the Dar Chebab. They talked about some of the
students' impressions of the place of girls in Moroccan society and what their
perceptions were of girls' abilities to excel in society to the same extent as
boys. Together, Mustapha and Steven, two men, encouraged all of the students to
identify some negative stereotypes they have held about the ability of girls
and women to achieve in school and work and recognize gender equality.
Celebrating Female
Teachers
Shawn Dubberly Site: Birkouat
 |
| Shawn and a science teacher in site |
At a school
science fair, Shawn was pulled into a spontaneous speech. So she decided to
focus her speech on celebrating the female science teachers. She told the
students that they were lucky to have this intelligent role model in their
lives. Then she included the students by telling them the importance of women
in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). It’s rare for women
to talk about themselves, so she felt this was a good example of how everyday
gender work can simply be highlighting, celebrating and thanking women for the
work they do.
Jogging
Women’s Hours at Men’s Gym
Rachel
Gates-Vickery in Itzer
 |
| Women and girls gathering in gym |
Rachel
works with a women’s athletics association. The women have an open space with
homemade weights and a certified trainer however there is minimal
resources/space that the association can provide. After months and months of
trying, the women successfully got permission to integrate the services into
the all male gym at the other end of town.
The previously
all male gym is better equipped with materials as well as a shower. Increasing
the instructor’s cliental led to a slight raise in income allowing her to build
a shower in her all women’s gym and hopefully purchase new materials.
The women’s gym
has not only been a space to workout, but they are the only true spaces in town
dedicated to women. Women, now on both ends of town, can gather, workout, share
recipes, talk about their kids, exchange prayer...really the opportunities are
endless....it has created a bond that truly cannot be found anywhere else-not
even in the streets where we know of women congregating.
GLOW Club
Rachelle Wilson in Sidi Rahal
Rachelle wanted to find a way to start development work
beyond language, reconciling that it may look much smaller than what she
imagined. She meets once a month and do 3 to 4 hours of activities, some
adapted from the GLOW camp curriculum.
So far, our GLOW club has covered topics
such as: education in Morocco, prioritizing, effective goal setting,
self-advocacy, gender equality, and leadership.
Girl’s Basketball Club
Ben Zapchenk in Agdz
Ben noticed that girls were interested in participating in
physical activities that would afford them an opportunity and reason to get
outside of their houses. Because of the existing cultural structures in
Moroccan society, many girls and women are hard pressed to find communal spaces
where they can be themselves and engage in collective endeavors, whereas boys
and men find no such restrictions.
Running
GLOW Safe Space Community Library
Julie Feng in Settat
The Girls Leading Our World (GLOW) Club of Settat is
building a community library at the dar chebab. Our main goals:
● Access. Our
community has no reasonable or affordable access to books.
● Capacity-Building
& Empowerment. The library project is completely led by Moroccan girls
and young women. Though this means that building is slower than most PC
libraries, the power shift is worth it!
● Safe Community.
Girls often get the message that they don’t belong in public domains, even at
the youth center. The library creates a space that is completely inclusive.
GLOW Camp
Nina Lopez in Er-Rich
Nina worked on a 5 day GLOW camp with 35 girls. Covering
subjects such as Healthy Lifestyles part I, Science, Healthy Lifestyles part
II, Goal Setting & Careers, Agents of Change and The Environment.
Biggest Challenges: getting presenters to commit, girls
waited until the last minute to sign up, Ministry backed out on providing
lunch, keeping schedule on time.
Biggest Accomplishments: Given the opportunity counterparts
really stepped up, participants brought food and supplies and we cooked
together, not providing lunch was no big deal, Moroccans presented the majority
of the classes, awesome toolkits available through Peace Corps.
