What does gender equality mean at a sports competition?

This practice offers to organise discussions on what gender equality means at sports competitions.

This practice is both sports-related and reflective: the debates organised on sports and sports events give everyone the place they deserve. What's more, each child can play all the roles in the "interchangeable" sense of the term.

Goals:

• Understand and deconstruct stereotypes in sports: many children have desires that do not correspond to traditionally defined gender roles.
• Know that equality and identity are two different things: being equal does not mean being similar.
• Understand that equal rights are based on the recognition of differences, but without favouring one over the other.

First step : Pupils are divided into groups of four. Twenty-three sports logos representing 23 sports (available on the USEP website, under the communication section) are presented to every group. Each pupil picks one sport they'd like to practice and explains why. Pupils having picked the same sport compare their explanations. Are they different or the same? Then, pupils are asked to pick the sport they would not like to practice. They have to explain why to the group. Answers are written on the board. Second step: The discussion then switches to class mode. Are there sports that are for men only? For women only? Are there as many girls as boys in your sports club? Third step: The discussion then turns to schools whose role is to foster equality between girls and boys. Questions such as What does it mean to be equal at school? in the playground? at a sports competition? are asked to the pupils. Fourth step to be conducted as a class or in smaller groups: What concrete actions can foster gender equality at sports competitions? The suggested actions will be put in place at the next competition.