It is a milestone in raising awareness of gender equality among children and young people in Munich. Gabriele Nuß, Deputy Head of the Equal Opportunities Office for Women, speaks of the handbook “Was it just fun”. In cooperation with the Pedagogical Institute of the Department for Education and Sport, the manual for dealing with border violations and everyday violence against girls in school was developed. It is primarily aimed at teachers so that misconduct is recognized in good time and made visible. Above all, however, one wants to prevent such cases and then avoid them.
Even games in the schoolyard trigger a power imbalance
In its second action plan on the subject, the city has specified how to prevent gender-specific violence – in addition to intervention and follow-up care. According to the school board member Florian Kraus, everyday violence is the breeding ground for numerous attacks. Nuß speaks of clear situations, and they could already occur in elementary school.
Even typical games in the schoolyard, when boys have to catch girls, represent a power imbalance between the sexes due to the rules of the game. If girls are encircled in the further course of the game or are forced to release them to actions such as giving up their caps, this is the cross-border behavior between children. It is important that the adults react to this and talk about it with the children. “Teachers have a special responsibility to ensure that people don’t look away,” says Kraus.
The third mayor, Verena Dietl (SPD), emphasizes that the handbook is intended to take the teachers’ uncertainties away, “because looking the other way solidifies the role models”. The evaluation of the 2018 PISA study showed that 15-year-old girls on average believe less in their own talents than boys. Boys also see themselves as more competitive. For the city’s Equal Opportunities Officer, Nicole Lassal, school as a place of learning and living still stands for harassment, anger, denigration, harassment and stereotypical role expectations of boys and girls.
As early as 1996, the Equal Opportunities Office published a guide called “Madln Tratzen”, which took up everyday forms of border crossings in schools. “Even today, the topic has not lost its topicality,” says Lassal. In addition to a theoretical introduction, teachers will therefore find action strategies and practical methods in the handbook to address existing discrimination and privilege structures that enable everyday violence against girls in school.
Parents also need to be made aware
In the next three years, as part of the second action plan, there will be a training day for teachers every quarter, says Kraus. However, using the manual in class is voluntary. However, Kraus assumes that demand will be high. Dietl speaks of the fact that outside of school, parents in particular need to be sensitized to gender-sensitive behavior and fair and non-violent language, since the children bring a lot with them from there. The kick-off for dealing with cross-border behavior is now taking place in schools.