Building equality

Context
The European project BEYOND is focused on boys and girls up to about 5 years of age, who are unable to identify or use the category of gender stereotype in practice, yet are affected by them. This results in biased expected social and familiar roles and, for example, unequal access to games and related learning tools, leading into the development of different attitudes and potentialities. BEYOND sets several actions to tackle gender stereotypes in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), by developing pedagogical approaches and a competence framework on gender equality, and by raising the awareness of all ECEC stakeholders.

Process
We had multiple touchpoints with the partners, coming from four European countries (Italy, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Belgium), to better define the campaign’s messages: the importance of attracting men into early years’ education career; the benefits of a more aware approach to girls and boys within households; “fake news” about gender differences and opportunities.

Solution
We designed three posters, one for each key message, to be affixed around the cities of the involved countries and in key spaces in relation to the project main target groups – such as educators, families, and professionals working in the same field. Each poster became a short video animation, too, to be diffused online, via social media and partners’ websites.