Periodic Reporting for period 1 - G-EPIC (Gender Empowerment through Politics In Classrooms)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2023-02-01 do 2024-06-30
Ensuring the future of democracy requires empowering all social group to engage, yet the gender gap in political leadership, ambition and self-efficacy is the most persistent across Western democracies. The situation when looking across the intersect of gender, social class and ethnicity becomes even more grave. These differences have been shown to begin in the school and classroom dynamics has been cited as the likely socialisation process that leads to these different outcomes.
G-EPIC is a group of universities and other organisations working together to find ways to reduce gender inequality in politics. G-EPIC brings together experts from different fields, including political science, sociology, gender & youth studies, education, and psychology. The seven partners in six countries (BE, CZ, DK, GE, ES, UK) will start by looking at existing data to understand how attitudes towards politics are learned. We will then create experiments in schools and test new interventions with the help of teachers and students. These experiments and interventions will be evaluated and will lead to the development of the Gender Empowerment in Classroom intervention. This will be delivered in schools across Europe, which could lead to real change and a reduction in the gender gap in politics. We will also evaluate the national context and the local and European policy framework to design regulations and policies that encourage more girls from disadvantaged backgrounds to get involved in politics.
The expected impact is:
The project will make a scientific impact through the analysis of the data collected that will show why there is unequal gender political engagement. G-EPIC tools will help tackle gender inequality in politics in the classroom through the gender empowerment intervention. The intervention will help girls get more confident and motivated to get involved in politics. We think these girls will be more involved in politics when they can vote. This could mean that they know they can choose less traditional careers, like running for office or a career in politics. Finally, the collected data will be used to make recommendations to policymakers and civil society organisations working in education, gender equality, youth well-being, social inclusion and civic engagement.
The research will benefit 1,875 young people (900 girls) involved in the intervention in five countries. The project will also affect about 200 teachers who will have taken part in and been trained in Gender Empowerment at the Continued Professional Development workshop. We expect to have a total impact on 700 policymakers and civil society activists at the EU level. They will receive the policy brief and 120 of them will be directly involved in the advisory boards.
G-EPIC is a group of universities and other organisations working together to find ways to reduce gender inequality in politics. G-EPIC brings together experts from different fields, including political science, sociology, gender & youth studies, education, and psychology. The seven partners in six countries (BE, CZ, DK, GE, ES, UK) will start by looking at existing data to understand how attitudes towards politics are learned. We will then create experiments in schools and test new interventions with the help of teachers and students. These experiments and interventions will be evaluated and will lead to the development of the Gender Empowerment in Classroom intervention. This will be delivered in schools across Europe, which could lead to real change and a reduction in the gender gap in politics. We will also evaluate the national context and the local and European policy framework to design regulations and policies that encourage more girls from disadvantaged backgrounds to get involved in politics.
The expected impact is:
The project will make a scientific impact through the analysis of the data collected that will show why there is unequal gender political engagement. G-EPIC tools will help tackle gender inequality in politics in the classroom through the gender empowerment intervention. The intervention will help girls get more confident and motivated to get involved in politics. We think these girls will be more involved in politics when they can vote. This could mean that they know they can choose less traditional careers, like running for office or a career in politics. Finally, the collected data will be used to make recommendations to policymakers and civil society organisations working in education, gender equality, youth well-being, social inclusion and civic engagement.
The research will benefit 1,875 young people (900 girls) involved in the intervention in five countries. The project will also affect about 200 teachers who will have taken part in and been trained in Gender Empowerment at the Continued Professional Development workshop. We expect to have a total impact on 700 policymakers and civil society activists at the EU level. They will receive the policy brief and 120 of them will be directly involved in the advisory boards.
WP1: We collected data on gender inequality in politics, including on the political representation of marginalised groups in six countries, as well as data on gender equality laws. We wrote a report on policies and regulations that included policy recommendations based on evidence, which were disseminated in a policy brief. We also set up three national advisory boards with stakeholders.
WP2: We reviewed 30 years of literature on political interest and political self-efficacy and created a database on youth political engagement.
WP3: We did fieldwork in five countries to assess classroom dynamics and shared this data in two reports 1) a database with information from surveys, observations, focus groups with pupils and interviews with teachers, 2) a joint report with WP2, summarising the research hypotheses to be used in WP4 and WP5.
WP4: We tested new teaching methods in five countries to help girls feel more confident about politics. We made a dataset and analysed the data. A report with the main findings was produced and used to write a policy brief.
WP5: We worked with teachers, students, national and European advisory boards to create and test a gender empowerment intervention in classrooms in three countries.
WP7: Managing the project, including: consortium coordination; internal meetings; internal communication; documentation; contact with the granting authority; risk management; submission of deliverables; cooperation with other EC projects; reporting; financial management; scientific coordination; data management plan; ethics compliance.
WP8: Coordinated the ethical requirements of the project, including appointing ethics advisors and sharing documents. The project received positive ethical advice in both reports.
WP2: We reviewed 30 years of literature on political interest and political self-efficacy and created a database on youth political engagement.
WP3: We did fieldwork in five countries to assess classroom dynamics and shared this data in two reports 1) a database with information from surveys, observations, focus groups with pupils and interviews with teachers, 2) a joint report with WP2, summarising the research hypotheses to be used in WP4 and WP5.
WP4: We tested new teaching methods in five countries to help girls feel more confident about politics. We made a dataset and analysed the data. A report with the main findings was produced and used to write a policy brief.
WP5: We worked with teachers, students, national and European advisory boards to create and test a gender empowerment intervention in classrooms in three countries.
WP7: Managing the project, including: consortium coordination; internal meetings; internal communication; documentation; contact with the granting authority; risk management; submission of deliverables; cooperation with other EC projects; reporting; financial management; scientific coordination; data management plan; ethics compliance.
WP8: Coordinated the ethical requirements of the project, including appointing ethics advisors and sharing documents. The project received positive ethical advice in both reports.
- An evaluation of how historically disadvantaged groups are represented in politics from an intersectional perspective, which is missing from the existing literature. This is due to a lack of disaggregated data on women in politics.
- The review of existing literature identified key gaps in knowledge on how background factors affect political interest and effectiveness.
- Hypotheses developed jointly by WP2 & 3 to be used in WP4 and WP5 in order to help students, especially girls from disadvantaged backgrounds to be more confident in politics.
- A quasi-experimental framework designed to explore why girls lack political self-efficacy in open classrooms. The demonstration was included in WP4 in five countries exploring how inclusive methods (counter-narratives, think-pair-share and the Q-sorting) are used in classroom.
-A new framework for creating interventions in schools with end-users. Teachers' experiences in the classroom help to design the lessons that make up the gender empowerment intervention. Pupils' voices and experiences are also included through feedback in workshops. The National and European Advisory Board, has helped us to make our intervention better and more useful for pupils across Europe. We incorporated all the feedback and meet with teachers to make sure the intervention is right for the classroom, useful in the real world, affordable and easy to implement, and culturally sensitive. It has been piloted with over 400 students.
- The review of existing literature identified key gaps in knowledge on how background factors affect political interest and effectiveness.
- Hypotheses developed jointly by WP2 & 3 to be used in WP4 and WP5 in order to help students, especially girls from disadvantaged backgrounds to be more confident in politics.
- A quasi-experimental framework designed to explore why girls lack political self-efficacy in open classrooms. The demonstration was included in WP4 in five countries exploring how inclusive methods (counter-narratives, think-pair-share and the Q-sorting) are used in classroom.
-A new framework for creating interventions in schools with end-users. Teachers' experiences in the classroom help to design the lessons that make up the gender empowerment intervention. Pupils' voices and experiences are also included through feedback in workshops. The National and European Advisory Board, has helped us to make our intervention better and more useful for pupils across Europe. We incorporated all the feedback and meet with teachers to make sure the intervention is right for the classroom, useful in the real world, affordable and easy to implement, and culturally sensitive. It has been piloted with over 400 students.