Asianlayleaders – In the current Asian context, the discussion on sex, sexuality, and gender is still considered a taboo which most of the time resulting to some concerns such as gender stereotyping. Gender stereotypes usually leads to discrimination and abuses and hinders the women, girls and even men and boys in exercising their rights. So, as a student movement, IMCS recognizes the needs to discuss these concerns with the young women and girls including the young men to raise awareness, to empower them in protecting their rights.
IMCS Pax Romana Asia Pacific, together with the Women Empowerment and Gender Equity Commission, conducted a CLAP workshop on Gender Mainstreaming on March 10, 11, 17, & 18, 2023.
The workshop was designed to share and discussed about the following topics:
- Gender, Gender Equality, and Gender Mainstreaming
- Gender and Development
- Issues and concerns experienced by women and children
- Gender-based Violence
The workshop was successfully done thru online sessions and was participated by young women and men from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Malaysia and Kenya. It was a very insightful workshops where students were able to share their point of view about different gender issues in their community such as gender stereotype, gender violence, discrimination and abuses. During the 4-day workshops, participants also learned the different local and national laws, policies and universal declarations relating to children and women’s rights such as Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). During this topic, each participant was given the opportunity also to share the existing laws, policies and regulations about women’s rights protection in their country. At the same time, participants were given insights also on how they ensure that these policies and laws are implemented and works well in order to address the needs of all citizens-women, men, girls and boys.
And what made this workshop more interesting was that it was participated also by some young men where they also shared their perspective about the different issues women are currently experiencing. And together at the end of the workshops, each country, both men and women came up with an action plan on how as IMCS student leaders, they can help in promoting gender equality and protecting women’s rights. They also showed their support thru photo with the hashtags like #BeBrave #BeBold #EndGenderBasedViolence #Respect #KitaSama #StopViolation #GenderEquity. *