Abbey Walsh is serving in her third year as a Peace Corps Volunteer in a small rural town in southern Morocco. She believes in equal opportunity for all youth to have safe and inclusive places to live, learn, and play. Throughout her time in Morocco, Abbey has focused her work on increasing opportunities and programming for women and girls as well as youth with special needs. When she isn't teaching, Abbey loves to eat couscous (with her hands) and taking long walks through the oasis in her backyard. Read more about her service on her blog: www.abbeykatew.com
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| Two students showing their work from the final activity |
“Should women change their clothes or men change their minds?”
By Abbey Walsh
A few months ago I was approached by one of my counterparts. He lives and works in a small town about an hour away from mine and teaches an ACCESS program, a 2-year intensive English program designed to benefit students from underserved areas in Morocco. We have often collaborated in the past on various workshops for youth in the ACCESS program.
He said he wanted me to work with him to plan another workshop -- but this time he wanted to tackle the issue of sexual harassment. He confessed to me that he had already tried discussing this topic with his students, but felt like it was unsuccessful. He asked if I could come up with an activity that would help the students, male students especially, understand the issue better and why it is a problem. He remarked that although he had tried to discuss sexual harassment with them, the students were not fully grasping the severity of the issue or what they could do to help.
First and foremost, I believe that the class that followed was a success because I had the support of my counterpart and, more importantly, that he initiated the conversation. His support ensured several crucial elements that are necessary in order to successfully broach this topic: common beliefs about the problem of sexual harassment and willingness to discuss a difficult topic with students. I believe it was also important to have both a female and male facilitator in the room during the discussion because there were both female and male students in the class. I think it was powerful for the students to see the pair of us agree and say that sexual harassment is a pervasive problem that we all must try and solve.
The ensuing workshop was structured in a 2.5 hour class period and was broken up into three main parts. First, we had a preliminary discussion that set ground rules and defined the issue, and then we watched the “Breaking the Silence” videos (addressing the issues brought up in the videos along the way). Lastly, a final activity. The activities could easily be split up into several class periods for volunteers or teachers who do not have the ability to keep students for such an extended period of time. As this was taught as part of the ACCESS program, I taught the majority of the class in English. However, I did translate certain key concepts or directions into Arabic to ensure that students understood everything clearly (and the videos are available in Arabic and French in addition to the English version that I used).
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| One student showing her work from the final activity |
By the end of the session, it was clear to me that our discussions had made an impact on the students. Although we may not have changed every student’s mind about how problematic sexual harassment can be, the fact that we had the discussion at all meant that students would now think more carefully and thoughtfully about the issue. By the end of the session, students were debating with each other about different questions that were raised. In particular, students debated about whether boys and men were able to control their sexual urges. One male student told his peers: “If you can control yourself in front of your sister, why can’t you control yourself in front of other girls?” He remarked that if people could learn to control themselves around their family members then they could certainly learn to control themselves around other people as well. Students also had heated discussions about whether girls and women were required to cover themselves up to prevent sexual harassment and how the role of religion related to the idea of modesty. During the discussion, one girl posed a question to her classmates: “Should women change their clothes or should men change their minds?”
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| Student working on anti-harassment activity |
Two months after our workshop, I attended the ACCESS English Program Conference in Marrakech with the students and my counterpart. One of the students in the class chose to give a speech in English about the importance of ending sexual harassment and victim blaming. I was so proud of her. As we always say in Morocco change happens schwiya b schwiya. However, if each student continues to share what they learned with just a few friends schwiya b schwiya it will create a large and lasting impact.
Here are a few tips on how to organize a session that addresses sexual harassment:
Set ground rules
Talk about what a “safe space” means. Facilitate suggestions from students on the way we should act during this class (may include “Be respectful,” “Don’t laugh at other people’s comments,” etc.). Write them on the board and keep them up during the class. Emphasize that this is a serious topic.
Define the issue
“What is sexual harassment?” Ask students what they consider the definition to be, then provide a clarifying definition. Include examples, both verbal and physical. Ask students what the difference is between sexual harassment and flirting. Emphasize that if it’s unwanted, it’s harassment. Reiterate that the victim should never be blamed.
Watch “Breaking the Silence” Videos
The videos are broken up into three parts that last 10 minutes each. We watched each video and then had a discussion about the topics addressed before moving on to the next video. Ask clarifying questions to make sure students understand the content (stopping the video as necessary to reiterate a point). Use discussion questions provided by the “Breaking the Silence” curriculum. Allow the discussion to flow. Do not cut a passionate discussion short, even if that means you can’t address all of the discussion points.
Stopping Sexual Harassment Activity
Ask students to create a poster outlining what they learned from the session. Have them respond to a question, such as: How can you stop sexual harassment? Who can stop sexual harassment? How does sexual harassment make you feel? What would you do if you saw someone being sexually harassed? Take pictures of students with their posters (with their consent). Ask students to present their posters to the group.
Heads up: These questions in particular caused a lot of discussion during my session
Does it matter if the words used have a good or bad meaning? What does the clothes a person is wearing have to do with sexual harassment? Can sexual harassment occur between couples that are married? Are men/boys able to control themselves and their urges? What role does a bystander have in stopping sexual harassment?
If you have questions or want advice about leading your own workshop on sexual harassment, please feel free to contact Abbey through her blog at www.abbeykatew.com.
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| Two students showing their work from the final activity |
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Posted by Jessica Wamala
