Faith Mwangi-Powell

This Concurrent Session will recognize that barriers to achieving gender equality run outside as well as inside education systems and that putting gender at the center requires working with diverse partners to look at the role of education in addressing harmful gender norms and stereotypes. Harmful gender norms and stereotypes not only hamper gender equality but also fuel adverse education outcomes. In so doing, the discussion will focus on gender stereotypes in schools and how utilizing education can help children and young people grow into equal, just and non-violent citizens, while also advancing the agenda on gender equality in, to and through education systems and schools to achieve gender-transformative education. Discussions will bridge the gap between education and gender communities and link conversations with justice, systems and accountability to advance the global, national, local, school-level and youth centered efforts to address gender norms and end stereotypes in schools.

Session format: Whole System in a Room

Organized by Partner Coalition for Ending Gender Stereotypes in Schools (represented by Equimundo, Room to Read, UN Girls’ Education Initiative, Transform Education, UNICEF India, VVOB), Global Partnership for Education (GPE), Girls Not Brides, AU-CIEFFA, UNAIDS

This side-event co-hosted by the Government of Canada, UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage, and Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage, will provide an opportunity for an intergenerational discussion on the urgent need to accelerate action to end child, early and forced marriage and unions (CEFMU).

As the polycrisis of conflict, climate change, food insecurity and COVID-19 continue to have devastating impacts for women and girls, we must work together to ensure that progress made to reduce the prevalence of CEFMU is not reversed. It will bring together young global leaders, influencers, and key stakeholders driving action to end CEFMU around the world. The event will encourage open dialogue on challenges and effective tools for preventing CEFMU, including through comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) – an empowering tool for changing harmful gender norms and practices that perpetuate child marriage and gender inequalities. Organized by Government of Canada