According to a recent survey launched by SCI and addressed at volunteers and activists, 45% of respondents experienced or witnessed microaggressions during SCI activities run in the past 5 years. Microaggressions negatively impact activists and volunteers’ experience with SCI, and are a signal that we need to make our activities more inclusive for people of different identities, including gender identities.

Take a look at the results of the survey here!

Creating an environment where people feel free to be themselves is vital, and among the things that make such an environment there is language. Language shapes our culture and has the power to make people feel good or bad, included or not. Pronouns are a good example. People are not only “he” or “she,” but also “they” or simply their name, and more, because gender is a spectrum, not a binary concept.

Then let’s use the right language! If you are a coordinator, a youth worker or a trainer you can start doing this by using the right name tags during your activities. You don’t need to make them: SCI International Secretariat, in collaboration with the Gender Blenders Working Group, made them for you!

Within the project Gendered Realities, they have indeed created some stylish name tags for activists and volunteers who take part in SCI activities. It’s very easy to get them, you can either:

>> ask SCI International Secretariat to send them to you by post by contacting assistance@sci.ngo

Or

>> download them here and print them on Avery’s address labels L7173 (Avery’s address labels L7173 can be purchased online or in a shop).

The name tags can help you introduce activists and volunteers to the topic of gender, while the gender toolkit “Free to Be You and Me” can provide you with full of notions on gender and more, guidelines on how to create a safe space, and lots of examples of activities you can run.

So don’t waste a minute: download or request the name tags, read and use the toolkit, talk about the results of SCI’s survey with your fellow activists and volunteers, as it’s time to face gendered realities!

#GenderedRealities #sciint #eyfcoe