We accept lecture invitations from schools, communities, and government agencies. Lectures have been organized on topics such as the following:
- Gender Issues from the Perspective of Culture and Customs
- Prevention of Sexual Harassment and Assault
- Gender Mainstreaming and CEDAW Implementation
We also strive to enable a gradual exploration of gender equity education from all dimensions of daily life and society through diversified gender equity teaching materials such as educational games and books. We design lectures and capacity-building workshops covering a wide range of gender issues for different audiences. The association engages in a constant dialog with society through these lectures and workshops.
Creation of gender-friendly campuses
We autonomously developed two board games titled “Home Play” and “Magic School” and have organized training courses for grassroots instructors to enable a rising number of educators to raise the gender equity awareness of students and prevent campus bullying through board games.
In 2014, we initiated our “Home Play Provincial Highway No. 9 Tour” along the rugged and winding Provincial Highway No.9, which took us deep into the remotest areas of eastern Taiwan to schools that lack important resources. We organized over 80 workshops on our journey within one year, which spanned 9 cities and counties. We came into contact with over 1800 adults and kids. Finally, we decided to record and publish our exciting journey, which was full of challenges and surprises and our tour memories in the form of a book. We decided to attach numerous lesson plans to the book to provide educators with more classroom instruction materials.
>>Home Play: A Tough Life Expansion
Raising of gender equity awareness
Culture and customs mold every layer of our being. Some concepts are deeply ingrained in our lives, causing us to be completely unaware of our discrimination against others and discrimination against us. We unravel the gender codes in traditional rites and ceremonies such as weddings, lunar new year, and ancestor worship and break down their different forms to explore the oppression and discrimination hidden inside. We convert these findings into verbal messages that everyone can understand.
Furthermore, we rely on various media, including the book titled “Let’s Visit Mom’s Maiden Home on the First Day of Lunar New Year”, which numerous members of the association co-authored, the documentary titled “Women’s Light Shines On” by Associate Professor Hsiao Chao-chun, our third chairperson, and the lecture titled “Marriage and Customs”.
We had contributions from numerous educators and different methods such as cooperation with the public and private sectors, close contact with local communities, and in-class cooperation with school teachers. This helped guide cross-generational audiences with diverse identities in the joint deconstruction of discrimination and inequality embedded in our customs.
Creation of more gender-friendly environments at workplaces
A rising number of enterprises strive to create gender-friendly work environments. The shattering of gender stereotypes, identifying power imbalances at the workplace, preventing sexual harassment, and a deep understanding and respect for LGBTQ+ communities are key requirements. We receive numerous invitations from enterprises every year to assist them in the organization of lectures and capacity-building activities.
In 2020, we were invited by the Diversity & Inclusion Task Force of Standard Chartered Bank to conduct an experience activity for their top executives and employees with the “Home Play” board game as the main medium. This activity aimed to integrate the concept of diversity and inclusion into workplace culture through diversified family structures and single-parent and new immigrant issues represented in the game.
This activity was covered by numerous media outlets and generated considerable benefits for society. As a result of this activity, numerous enterprises contacted us.
Rising awareness, Support and empowerment
To provide hundreds of teachers and association members all over Taiwan with sufficient competence for our ever-changing society and students, we have autonomously developed gender equity teaching materials and published books with lesson plans. In addition, we periodically organize gender equity-related lectures, seminars, capacity-building activities, and grassroots instructor training.
We invite gender-friendly teachers to share their unique teaching experiences that vary with the living contexts in different areas and discuss challenges or difficulties they encounter in their work. The assembled wisdom enables us to provide each other with mutual assistance.
We started to develop our own gender equity teaching materials and books many years ago to enable students to internalize gender equity through incorporation teaching methods, content that approximate life experiences, and methods involving different media. Relevant materials include “Home Play”, a board game that introduces family diversity concepts, familiarizes players with different ethnicities and groups in society, and shatters gender stereotypes as well as “A Tough Life”, which is an extension of “Home Play”, and “Magic School”. It is centered around campus bullying prevention and fosters a spirit of mutual assistance and cooperation between players.
Upon releasing these materials, we organized grassroots instructor training to empower a rising number of teachers. In 2021, we will unveil our teaching materials for a 12-session affective education course titled “Gender: the Galactic Adventures of the Rainbow Team”, which employs a student-centered approach. Course participants turn into their true selves and learn how to respect others through increased self-understanding and their relationships with others in the spirit of mutual supportiveness. In 2020, we launched five preparatory workshops involving discussions and exchanges between 120 teachers, social workers, and parents.
In 2003, we released a lesson plan book titled “How to Teach Sex”, specially designed for teachers, to provide suitable teaching materials for classroom instruction and facilitate the promotion of sex education. In the book, we explore the phenomenon of physical development and analyze common conceptions of gender in traditional society.
In 2010, we released a short film titled “Shall We Swim” with junior high school students as the main subject together with a teaching manual. We strive to create an open and safe discussion space through this film and thereby guide teenagers in understanding their bodies and sex and teach them how to show respect for other people’s bodies. This film has been paired with a series of lectures and workshops. The goal is to engage in discussions with educators on how to answer students’ questions about sex and how to respond to their desire to explore this subject.
In 2020, we organized a workshop based on the illustrated book “Butterfly and Doudou’s Little Secret” to assist children, teenagers, parents, relatives, teachers, caregivers, or other practitioners in setting the goal of physical autonomy for children and teenagers. We also invited gender-friendly teachers to contribute their accumulated knowledge and acquired skills to the classes and share their teaching experiences in written form.
Give Rose Boy a Hug
The legislative process for the Gender Equity Education Act was triggered by the death of a teenager who had been the victim of long-term bullying due to his gender expression and died tragically in an unfortunate accident. Taiwan Gender Equity Education Association, founding chairpersons of partner organizations, and veterans of gender-related movements assisted the victim’s family in handling legal matters and provided them with emotional support.
We have recorded this process which lasted many years in writing in great detail. We also enlisted numerous educators, students, legal practitioners, and other individuals involved in this incident to write an article or letter about their experiences. We compiled all these recorded experiences into a book to present their lives and stories to our readers. We strive to explore through the tragic loss of such a pure and beautiful life and the reflections of educators on how we can stop gender-based bullying. “Give Rose Boy a Hug” is dedicated to gender equity education and aims to remind society that every rose boy and girl needs a hug.
Gender Equity Education Conference
In early 2020, we organized a Gender Equity Education Conference centered around the three core themes of sex education, affective education, and LGBTQ+ education to broaden the scope of gender equity education. Papers presented at this conference aimed to unravel the changes and impacts since the enactment of the Gender Equity Education Act in 2004 through the lens of the pulse of history, social phenomena, and cross-cultural comparisons. The goal was to provide all participants with a chance to draw new inspiration from others’ experiences.This event also featured a round-table discussion on the implementation of gender equity education by first-line educators to identify and solve problems.
Teaching experience sharing activity
In addition, we organized a teaching experience sharing activity with the US teen romantic comedy “Love, Simon” as the main theme in cooperation with San Min Bookstore. The event demonstrated how to incorporate education on the LGBT community into English teaching curricula. We also invited TGEEA members to attend the event and engage in capacity building and exchanges.