What is Gender Equity?
Gender Equity was a seven-week long project that "raises awareness about global gender issues with a focus on Cambodian society. In order to affect positive change we must examine the past to transform the future. Through communication, passion, and risk-taking we will investigate various aspects of gender discrimination and inequalities by sharing stories, exchanging knowledge, and interacting with others to create a healthy and constructive dialogue about gender equity."
Inside/Outside the ClassIn Cambodia, expressing the issues about gender equity is such a sensitive topic due to the enduring culture and traditions which creates barriers to having a proper discussion. Therefore, as a team, we believe "dialogue" is the most effective weapon that helps to disseminate stories and problems surround the spectrum of gender.
Inside and outside the classroom, we always came together and had countless discussions about gender in both local and global communities. Most of the time, during those discussions, everyone was encouraged to share their personal stories, experiences, and questions which were gender-related. As an example, I shared about my "coming out" experience as a bisexual boy who was still new to the LGBTQAI+ Community. |
Discussion is not the only kind of dialogue. Gender Equity team even established an electronic platform where authors can publish their articles related to gender. During this project, I wrote three articles that express gender in science and culture. Out of the three articles, my proudest piece is called, "A Human or A Robot."
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We also hosted a gender summit in Khmer and English called "CHANGE." It stands for "Creating Humanitarian Awareness for the Necessity of Gender Equity." Overall, the summit was successfully run; we invited students and guests from different institutions and demographics.
I was one of the session leaders of the event, presenting about the topic of "POWER." CHANGE Blog: http://changeforequity.ligeracademyblog.org |
This year, 2019, at our school campus, we also hosted another summit--only in Khmer language--called Rainbow or In-tha-nu (in Khmer). This time, the intention is to
"encourage people to provoke meaningful discussion, to embrace differences, and to inspire Cambodian youth to create positive change in their own communities." Rainbow organized similarly to CHANGE; however, its topics in various sessions are LGBTQAI+-focused. Excitingly, I was one of the session leaders of the summit and my session was about "Health and Violence." |