Seminar 2The ‘Gender Based Approaches in Youth Work’ Seminar was presented by

YouthAction Northern Ireland and the University of Ulster (Youth andCommunity Work Department). This seminar provided an opportunity for arange of practitioners to explore issues around gender based work such as

single gender work, single sex work, mixed gender work, perceptions ofgender work, the role modelling of the worker and possible outcomes of the

work on the lives of young people. This paper sets gender in the context ofboth policy and practice, providing challenges to gender based work withyoung women and young men, as well as providing recommendations for

policy developments in helping young people to understand and challengethe impact that gender has upon their lives.

An Occasional Youth Work Practice Paper 2

Gender Conscious Work with Young People

CurriculumD

evelopmentUnit

YouthWorkN.I.

YouthAction Northern Ireland has sixty years experience of working with children and young peoplethroughout Northern Ireland aged between 10 – 25 years. Our aim is to support them as active andequal citizens whose voices are heard, respected and valued.

YouthAction Northern Ireland values Equality, Diversity and inclusion. In everything we do we seekto respect the rights and responsibilities of each individual, to value young people as they are ratherthan as they should be and to include young people in the social and economic life of communities.YouthAction Northern Ireland strives to proactively challenge and address inequalities that existwithin society. We wish to ensure the inclusion and acceptance of all regardless of difference.

YouthAction – gender conscious workwith young people

YouthAction Northern Ireland has a long anddistinguished history of gender based work with youngpeople. Through research, practice and training initiativesthe organisation has developed innovative practicethrough its Gender Equality Unit and Work With YoungMen Unit. Herein the organisation has developed genderconscious practice in which young men and youngwomen have opportunities to explore genderconditioning, gender roles and expectations within achanging world.

The Work with Young Men Unit and the Gender EqualityUnit has many shared issues, concerns and approaches.Common aspects of the work of both Units include:

• Working to actively challenge the oppression youngwomen and young men feel from the existence ofgender stereotypes.

• Promoting opportunities and approaches whichchallenge traditional gender-specific roles andresponsibilities.

• Encouraging young women and young men tobroaden their personal expectations beyond therestraints of their gendered stereotypes.

• Providing opportunities where young men and youngwomen can positively contribute to the ongoingdevelopment of their local communities.

• Using creative forms of accreditation to recognisethe participation of young women and young men.

Each unit has different starting points and approaches inits work but both emphasise how gender pervades everyaspect of our existence and the issues this presents foryoung men and young women.The Gender Equality Unit goes beyond that of the Workwith Young Men Unit in providing a continued responseto the historical inequalities women have faced withinthe structures of our society. The Gender Equality Unitworks to acknowledge and challenge systems whichundermine the position and role of women and inparticular young women.

The Work with Young Men Unit acknowledges thechanging role of young men in contemporary societyand challenges the gendered expectations theycontinuously face. The Work with Young Men Unit worksto support young men in recognising the restrictions totheir emotional and mental well-being and promotingalternative ways of ‘being male’.

Gender in a social policy context

“The word gender refers to the socialdifferences between men and womenthat are learned, changeable over timeand have wide variations both withinand between cultures. For example,although only women can give birth(biologically determined), biologydoes not determine who will raisechildren (gendered behaviourdetermined by society).”{OFM/DFM Gender Matters Consultation Document}

Gender roles are determined by the systems andcultures in which we live. This in turn means that we canaddress and contribute to changing roles by challengingthe status quo and seeking social change.

In spite of legislative change and more equitable policiesin relation to women introduced in Northern Ireland,society in general has not necessarily changed itsattitude towards women. Progress has been madetoward narrowing the gaps between men and women inseveral policy areas but gender inequalities continue toexist in our society, and these mainly disadvantagewomen, young women and girls.

‘Women are now employed within theworkforce and there is a perceptionthat equality has been achieved’.

Until there is a more equitable society there will alwaysbe young women who face structural disadvantage anddiscrimination. Furthermore there are those within thisgroup who experience double or even multipledisadvantage due to other factors or life circumstances.

New TSN policy highlights the principle of ‘open andequal access for all’ with measures to counteractdiscrimination on the grounds of gender as well as areassuch as disability and sexual orientation.

The measures arising from New TSN Action Plans arelikely to shape forthcoming policies and legislation intackling poverty, disadvantage and injustice. New TSNhas been widely criticised due to the lack of associatedresources, thus having limited impact in comparison tothose resource-rich policy directives. This highlights theimportance of gender being explicit within policyinitiatives and the need for careful consideration toresourcing.

A more recent policy development is contained withinthe Gender Equality strategy of the Office of the FirstMinister and Deputy First Minister. This strategy aims toprovide an overarching framework within whichgovernment departments, associated agencies and otherrelevant statutory authorities will channel their effortstowards tacking gender equality for the benefit of bothwomen and men. Work under the strategy willcomplement and build upon the work that the publicauthorities are doing under section 75 of the NorthernIreland Act 1998. This aims to mainstream equality ofopportunity among nine equality categories through thedevelopment and delivery of programmes, practice anddecision-making processes.

The main emphasis in the Gender Equality strategy isthe promotion of policy and practice to tackle genderinequalities using more effective gender mainstreaming.Mainstreaming has become a major approach to genderequality policy-making internationally, and is promotedby the UN, the EU and the Council of Europe, who haveoffered the following frequently quoted definition:

“Gender mainstreaming is the(re)organisation, improvement,development and evaluation of policyprocesses, so that a gender equalityperspective is incorporated in allpolicies at all levels and at all stages,by the actors normally involved inpolicy making.”(OFMDFM, Gender Equality Indicators for NorthernIreland – A Discussion Document)

For gender mainstreaming to be adopted by allGovernment departments, each will set their owntargets and bid for resources for equality measureswithin their own expected remit. However, there is noguarantee that individual government departments willeven bid for gender equality measures to be carried out.

Gender in a youth work context

The emphasis of gender work, within the current climateis of a crisis facing young men and of effectiveinterventions in addressing this. Young men aredepicted as victims, particularly in relation to the higherlevels of suicide, underachievement in education andunemployment. In contrast young women are portrayedas having things ‘sorted’ as they provoke less anxietywithin society. However this is not necessarily accurateas young women may act out their frustrations andanxieties in less obvious behaviours in private. This isthen reflected in official statistics where the risks thatyoung women face are often hidden. Greater attentionis being directed towards the more public ‘threat’ (i.e.young men) as opposed to the less ‘problematic’ aspectsof society (i.e. young women). Funders and policymakers are demanding more hard-edged, tangible andmeasurable outcomes such as, stoppingviolence or preventingunderachievement. They ultimatelysee the ‘process’ as secondary andthis has the potential to adverselyaffect important yet less-tangibleoutcomes. For those working withyoung women and young men thereis a recognition that outputs andproducts are important but thevalue of the methods andprocesses used within the workshould be acknowledged andendorsed.

In dialogue with key funders, policy-makers andstakeholders, practitioners need to articulate a morepro-active rather than problem-focused approach toworking with young men and young women. This wouldacknowledge that young men can sometimes be a‘problem’ but also recognises their potential and whatthey can contribute and achieve. Likewise we need to beable to articulate the invisibility of young women withinpublic life and support effective practice whichproactively engages with them.

A key youth sector development has been the Joined inEquity, Diversity and Interdependence initiative.Specifically, the term Equity is about ensuring thatyoung people are treated fairly regardless of difference.In participation terms it is more than saying ‘ouractivities are open to everyone, regardless of e.g.gender’, it is ensuring that we do not directly orindirectly exclude people, and that we positively seekways of including those who might choose to getinvolved. This has clear implications for how we engageyoung men and young women in programming and forinclusive youth work practices.

The Youth Work Strategy (2005-2007) is the mostsignificant co-ordinated and strategic framework theyouth sector has seen to date. The plans proposed bythe Youth Service Liaison Forum refer to thedevelopment, implementation and review of particularstrategies for encouraging participation by excluded andtraditionally under represented groups. The strategyhowever fails to recognise equality as a separate issuebut rather integral to the value of promoting humanrights. The operationalisation of the strategy howevermay have more explicit directed targets and action thatspecifically address equality issues relating to youngmen and young women.

The lives of young women

Young women’s lives are different from young men’s.For young women, factors such as friendship groupings,education, childcare and domestic responsibilities affectyoung women’s social behaviour, expectations andopportunities. Traditional values and limitedemployment opportunities also contribute to young

women being socially excluded. Many young womensuffer from low self-confidence and self-esteemand subsequently limited life choices.

The lives of young men

Young Men’s lives are different to young women’s. Manyfactors affect their social behaviour, expectations andopportunities. They are continually faced with issuessuch as masculinity, violence, health, cultural identity,sex and sexuality that directly have an impact on theirdevelopment as young males in Northern Ireland.Subsequently young men are often disillusioned andfrustrated and actions can lead to violence, suicide orrisk taking behaviour.

Key issues and barriers for workers workingwith young men and young women

• Workers are sometimes reluctant to engage ingender-based work as they view achieving genuineequality for both men and women as a hugeunrealistic task. This often generates a sentiment of‘Why Bother?’:

‘Gender roles may have changedsomewhat within Northern Irelandbut the sexism has not’.

• Workers often have a fear of being isolated andunsupported in undertaking gender-based work.Practitioners often engage in gender-based work dueto a personal conviction or belief rather than beingencouraged or supported through their agencies.

• Doing gender-work is not viewed as a core part ofyouth work practice. In many instances practitionersare given limited or little time and space to developthis area of work:

‘Work can be viewed as an ‘add-on’by agencies, but yet it is central toyoung people’s development inrelation to their behaviour, attitudeand options’.

There is often a perception that work with youngwomen and work with young men are in competitionwith each other and that one is prioritised at thecost of the other:

‘Young men’s work can be perceivedas a threat to young women’s workparticularly around resources andredistribution’.

Practitioners have regularly expressed a lack of clarityaround the fundamental components and differencesbetween single sex work, single gender work and genderconscious practice. They have identified the need for a“clearer definition of what the work is from both atheoretical and practice base.”

• Workers have further sought to clarify theexpectations and outcomes for young people, localcommunities and wider society in undertaking workwith young men and work with young women.“What are we trying to achieve exactly through thiswork?”

“The Youth sector needs a cleardefinition of gender based workcirculated to youth workers with theunderpinning theory and keypractice elements.”

To shed light on some of these fundamental questionsYouthAction Northern Ireland have provided a model ofpractice established based on solid practice research andtraining over a number of years. The model is constantlybeing refined and reviewed within the organisation interms of meeting needs of young women and youngmen. This is an initial attempt to progress understandingand action within the sector.

Differentiating between gender-conscious work and work with youngmen and young women

Single sex work and work with young men and workwith young women is different to gender consciouswork. Single sex work is working with young men andyoung women as one group. Examples of this span fromsports initiatives and health and beauty projects touniformed groups such as scout groups. Genderconscious work, however, is a conscious reflection ongender constraints imposed by societal structures. Itstems from the premise that gender is at the core ofwho we are and how we are as individuals and as a

society. Gender pervades every aspect of our existenceand in doing so provides us with very powerful normswithin which we as individuals are expected to behave.Therefore, gender conscious work should be central to allwork that is delivered to young women and young menas it challenges the stereotypes and enables youngpeople to address these issues.

Work with young men and work with young women canprovide unique opportunities for young people toengage in developmental opportunities as it providesyoung people with a space to relax, address issues andfeel comfortable. Gender conscious work howeverprovokes a conscious engagement with young womenand young men which proactively addresses some of thesocietal issues and restrictions they often encounterthroughout their lives. It is where gender is embedded asan issue in terms of reflection and progression for bothyoung men and young women. Gender work can alsotake place with both young men and young women -mixed sex work with a gender specific focus.

Our gender work with young women and young men atYouthAction Northern Ireland defines itself as “nottraditional activity-based provision”. It is different inthat it provides a particular space for young people toexplore and learn about their gender socialisation andinfluences as well as perceptions and attitudes towardsother genders. This includes educating young womenand young men about historical impacts such asfeminism and patriarchy. It addresses the reality ofyoung women’s and young men’s lives in preparing thememotionally and practically for a changing world interms of male and female roles. Gender conscious workinvolves using a variety of approaches and interventionsthat directly challenges the norms of how young menand young women are expected to behave and live theirlives. It addresses gender conditioning and the impactthat this has on young women and young men. It isinnovative and challenging in a conscious attempt toinfluence change.

We believe that Gender is at the centre of youthdevelopment as it defines the norms and expectationsabout appropriate male and female behaviour and theinteraction between the sexes. Gender describes thesocially constructed roles, rights and responsibilities thatcommunities and societies consider appropriate for menand women. We are born as males and females, butbecoming girls, boys, women and men is something thatwe learn from our families and societies. Young womenand young men learn through conscious andunconscious messages how they are expected to behave,achieve, participate and engage with others. Theseexpectations are, more often than not, gender-specific,limiting individual young women and young menbecause of their sex. These gender norms influencedevelopmental changes among young people byinhibiting their self-confidence, access to information,and opportunities to develop skills. Therefore issues ofgender inequality begin from early stages ofdevelopment. In order to adequately address issues ofgender inequality in men and women, carefulconsideration must be given to addressing issues ofgender inequality among boys and girls and young menand young women.

Gender conscious work, therefore, is political as itchallenges the status quo of women and men in oursociety. It is confrontational as it disputes the validity ofgender roles and stereotypes. It is painstaking as it de-constructs all that is known about masculinity andfemininity. It is also reflective as it continually questionsworkers on how their practice promotes challenges ofgender expectations.

Gender conscious based practice works to acknowledgeand challenge the systems which undermine theposition and role of women, and more so, young women.The historical disadvantage experienced by women inthe economic, social, political and private sphere as wellas the continued unequal position of women in societyis a key focus of the gender practice. Gender basedpractice also acknowledges the changing role of youngmen in contemporary society and challenges thegendered expectations they continuously face. Youngmen in particular face emotional difficulties and havinga healthy emotional intelligence to address thepressures in a world which is often perceived to befavourable to men.

As such there needs to be opportunities for youngpeople to explore their attitudes towards gender rolesand gender expectations, particular considering howtraditional stereotypes might conflict with the modernreality. This is the premise in which YouthActionNorthern Ireland advocates its gender-based work withyoung women and young men.

Settings for gender-conscious work

Historically, it has been regarded that the best place forgender work is within single sex groups. However,YouthAction N.I. would contend that gender-consciouswork stretches out beyond this limited setting. Gender-conscious work can and should take place with single sexgroups, with mixed sex groups and with individuals. Ittakes place in formal programmes and informal exchanges.The role of the worker is crucial as each of these settingsrequire different skills and requires the worker to possess aquestioning and challenging approach.

Single sex group:

Working with a single sex group can minimize theemotional and social pressures which can feature inmixed gender settings and maximize the potential for asafe experience. This creation of safety in itselfpromotes expression and allows for more rapiddevelopment of self and skills.

“You can express yourself more andtalk about more in front of girls.”(young woman)

“There’s not many opportunites foryoung men to talk about theirproblems, but there should be. WhenYou Talk About Your Problems YouNeed To Be Sure That People Won’tTalk To Others About Them.”(young man)

For example, young men could discuss issues aboutbecoming a man, rites of passage from boyhood tomanhood and acceptable behaviours of masculinity,more openly within a single sex setting. Similarly, thesingle sex setting supports young women to focus onissues of self-confidence, self-esteem and assertivenessin a safe environment.

A single sex group has two significant characteristicswhich make it suitable for gender-conscious work.Firstly, the group is built on the common ground ofshared sex. There may be different levels ofunderstanding of sex and gender within such a group,

but this presents an opportunity to explore how we arethe same while challenging our own perceptions andexpectations of our own gender. Secondly, a single sexgroup is separate from ‘the other sex’. They arephysically and psychologically removed from ‘the other’.Therefore, the inhibitions, anxieties or embarrassmentsoften experienced in close proximity of ‘the other’ isremoved. In this way, we create intimacy for the groupmembers. This allows for discussions of ‘my sex’ and of‘the other sex’ to flow more easily in this space e.g. likesand dislikes about being female/male or advantages anddisadvantages of being male/female.

“I feel that the group has benefited megreatly both as an individual and in thegroup also. I think that it has helped meunderstand more about the way youngmen are looked upon in society.”(young man)

Mixed gender group:

A mixed gender group is more likely to raise thecontentious gender issues in a shorter time-frame. Thisis due to the fact that many of the issues of genderalready exist and manifest themselves within the groupdynamics, within individual interactions and oftenreflect those of the wider society in general. Therefore,safety and intimacy are not common ground for themixed gender group. Rather the common ground is thecontested space of gender. This can be seen in doinggender training with a mixed-gender group of youthworkers, whereby elements of competition between thesexes becomes prominent and encourages moreaggressive interactions.

This places the onus on the worker of the mixed gendergroup to create a safe space for exploration of theissues, while employing the skills and mechanismsgenerally associated with conflict mediation work. Theskills of the worker are tested in working with a mixedgender group. The outcome of working in a mixedgender group is that, not only do the issues bubble upmore quickly, but also that direct negotiation andchallenge can enhance understanding more rapidly.

“In a mixed group we can do thingsand that we have differentopinions…sometimes you can get tolearn more together”(young woman)

Work with Individuals:

More often than not, gender-conscious individual work iscarried out through informal interactions with youngpeople. This is whereby gendered expectations, roles,stereotypes and structures are challenged either directlyor indirectly. A direct challenge to the individual iswhereby the worker challenges attitudes, behaviours orlanguage that is gender stereotyped. This requires theyouth worker to be clear and assertive in their messagewhile simultaneously being supportive to the position ofthe individual young person. An indirect challenge tothe individual requires the worker to model behaviour,which, by its own existence, challenges thepreconceptions and stereotypes of gender. The gender-conscious worker behaves in ways which challengegendered expectations in their own life. An example ofthis would be of a male worker who cleans thegroupwork room at the end of the session andencourage young men to do likewise. Both direct andindirect challenges require a keen awareness of self.

The methodology for gender-conscious work

There are a range of methodologies which are used ingender-conscious practice. Often the methodologyemployed by the worker reflects their own level of skilland level of self-awareness in gender work, rather thanthe needs of the group. This can often limit theeffectiveness of the work, due to workersunderestimating their own capacity or staying withintheir comfort zone. YouthAction N.I. advocate that thespecific approaches chosen will reflect the setting of thework and the awareness levels of the young peopleinvolved. This encourages workers to expand theirconsciousness of the issues and catalogue of practice.

Conscious awareness and use of self

A gender-conscious worker is always deliberate in theirwork with young people. They consciously plan howtheir presentation of self, their programmes, theirinteractions and their ethos are gender-conscious. Thisis not to say that they are not ‘being themselves’. Onthe contrary, because they choose not to adhere to thestereotypes and gender norms established by society,they are possibly more ‘like themselves’ and showgreater congruence than others. Therefore, a gender-conscious worker will have already worked through theirown attitudes and values about the impact of gender ontheir own life. They can articulate their own experienceand their own values on gender where necessary. But,more importantly, they bear these out in their own lifeand in their interactions with others around them.

As before, this conscious use of self can be either director indirect. Direct use of self refers to an explicitchallenge to the behaviours and language of others whopromote gender stereotypes or gender inequalities. TheIndirect use of self calls on workers to live a gender-conscious life which questions the ‘gender rules’ of oursociety. These behaviours can act as a role model toyoung people who are in contact with the worker over asustained period of time.

“There is a spectrum of practiceincluding conventional provisionwhich often perpetuatesgender stereotypes and atthe other end innovativepractice for change.”(worker)

Preparation for a changing worldof gender

Gender-conscious work requires a political,sociological and economic analysis of pastand contemporary society. An understandingof the historical development of genderedroles and expectations raises an awareness ofthe depth of the issues involved. A furtherunderstanding of contemporary societyallows workers to understand thechanging roles of men and womenwithin economic, social andpolitical life. This genderanalysis is required for the

gender-conscious worker to provide young people with aclear sense of reality about the society within whichthey live and to prepare them for the negotiation offuture gender relationships, roles and responsibilities.

Challenge to structural inequalities

Gender-conscious programmes and projects are devisedto address specific issues which arise from genderstructural inequalities. These structural inequalities arehistoric and have been built in to our society to ensurethat the position and role of women and men maintainthe status quo. Gender-conscious programmeschallenge these structural inequalities using a three-pronged approach: Firstly, through raising awareness ofthe inequality; secondly, through enskilling the youngpeople to overcome potential barriers arising from theinequality; and thirdly, through motivating them, asindividuals and as a group, to take positive action inaddressing similar inequalities in their own lives.

For example, the Moving On Programme works withyoung mothers on employability. Additionally, thisprogramme recognises the financial issues for youngmothers, employment inequalities for young women andthe burden of caring responsibilities they face. Similarly,the Personal and Political Development Programme forYoung Women has been specifically designed due to thehistorical under-representation of women within public

life and the political arena. The young men andviolence programme supports young men to

explore the root of violence and abusivebehaviour which they tend to adopt as

opposed to effective problem solvingtechniques. This programmeencourages young men to address

the complex environment inwhich their behaviour has often

been dictatedby a set

of

expectations throughout generations. This incorporates areflection on the individual, community, society and therelationship to masculinities. Central to themethodology has been young men’s involvement,actively identifying their own motivation for changingtheir attitudes and behaviour. All three are designed tochallenge structural inequalities. By challengingstructural inequalities, we are, in effect promotingopportunities for young women and young men, whichthey may not otherwise have chosen or even seen as anoption for themselves.

Reflective of gender influences

A crucial aspect of gender-conscious work is that it usesreflection as its primary tool. This is no different to theskilled informal educator, who engages young people inreflection as a necessary pat of the learning cycle.However, the reflections are gender-specific andencourage exploration and challenges to societal gendernorms. This involves a re-evaluation of how people,places, experiences, systems and institutions impactupon our own gender formation and our genderedexpectations of others.

These reflections can be generated through artificialsituations (programmes designed with this purpose) orthrough organic situations, naturally arising throughoutregular discussions or activities. Therefore, reflective

gender-conscious work can happen in any setting,provided the gender-conscious worker uses naturally-arising moments to build in reflection.

Challenging perceptions of the ‘other’

As gender is viewed as male and female, they areconsidered to be opposing polarities, which set each upin competition with the other. This actively worksagainst understanding of the other, and increases thepossibility of misunderstandings and misconceptions.

Gender-conscious practice involves more than simply anexploration of one’s own gender, but consciously movesinto the realm of exploring the ‘other’. The intention isto challenge the misconceptions of the ‘other’ that canlead to sexist or discriminatory attitudes and behaviour.This exploration of ‘the other’ is commonly used withgroups and individuals involved in ‘good relations work’.It is particularly effective where there are differentidentities, whereby there is either explicit or implicitrejection by one group of the ‘other’. The approachworks on separating myth from reality, encouragingunderstanding of difference and acknowledging commonfeatures of both. The next stage of this practice involvestranslating this into anti-sexist and anti-discriminatorybehaviour towards the other sex.

Recommendations

• There needs to be a clear vision for the work which is formulated and standardised within allpractice and across sectors. As such a 10 – 15 year strategic action plan should be devised,involving active partnerships and a coherent approach across the voluntary, community andstatutory sectors.

• Development of academic literature and recorded examples of practice should bedisseminated throughout the sector. This should be used to strategically influence policy.

• Developing sectoral partnerships and a gender sectoral manifesto to influence all electoralrepresentatives. Central to this will be custodians and ambassadors who consciously andproactively represent the needs of young women and young men at a policy and decisionmaking level.

• There is a need for policy change in which government prioritises gender based work. Thisrecognition and valuing of the work will support implementation of action plans throughrelevant departments and subgroups.

• Identifying a team of trained workers, in terms of knowledge and practice, who can guidethe strategic development of the work at a practice level throughout the sector.

• Gender should be central to all training with those working with young people. This includestraining at all levels from Introduction to Youth Work programmes to the degree in Youthand Community Work.

• There needs to be a consistent awareness raising initiative which profiles the issues andneeds facing young men and young women.

• The youth sector needs to provide resources, facilities and space for workers to developgender based work. The concentration is currently on ‘participation’ but this should bebroadened to incorporate participation of young women and young men in all aspects of life.

YouthAction Northern Ireland recognises the need for and significance of further debate inrelation to gender based issues. This paper is presented as a further discussion tool fororganisations and practitioners working with young women and young men.

This paper has been supported by the University of Ulster – Youth and Community WorkDepartment

YouthAction Northern Ireland, the University of Ulster Community Youth WorkDepartment and The Curriculum Development Unit have hosted a series ofthematic seminars.

The purpose of the seminars is to contribute to the understanding of Youth Work,develop training and enhance methodologies. An action learning approachprovided opportunities for youth and community workers and others working withyoung people to share ideas and methods of practice.

This initiative has been supported under the EU Programme for Peace andReconciliation (Peace II) Young Men and Violence Initiative through YESIP.