RE-IMAGINING GENDER - identifying opportunities for media advocacy towards more gender equal societies

Why is Vega organizing a gender related seminar/training? Vega recognized the need to explore the problems, dilemmas, contradictions and wide variety of issues in relation to gender imagery and gender representation that we all have to operate within our day-to-day lives. All our communication, images in our heads we create about individuals in relation to gender, our presumptions and opinions are built upon fortified, society-desirable, traditional to certain extent, representations of female and male – bodies, roles, looks, images , norms….Those representations nowadays, in societies overburdened with imagery coming from so many sides – TV, internet, pop-culture, movies, sitcoms, books, comics, advertisements are making sure that the “mainstream” gender stereotypes and representations of gender remain intact and still transmit the desirable models of gender. We can perceive those images as political issue, we can perceive them as strong socialization tool, as something that forms culture and again hugely influences our lives but regardless of how we approach them – they shape us all and perpetuate binary gender system in which we all have to fit regardless of the endless number of possibilities reality offers. With choosing this topic Vega wishes to invite you to share and connect, explore possibilities, learn and re-imagine boundaries of gender fixed and limited by the societies we live in! …video advocacy While creating this hybrid training-seminar we anticipated gender and gender representation as a topic and video workshop as a tool to voice our opinions, standpoints, ideas and interpretations. Therefore, video advocacy is not less important and secondary neither for us nor it should be for you. There is a saying ‘picture is worth a thousand words’ and in our realities we are highly affected by images and visual content we are exposed to. Those images, both consciously and subconsciously, have an effect on our understanding of gendered societies and realities as a whole. With this video advocacy session, embedded in the course of the seminar, we are offering you a tool with which you can explore, express and voice your ideas while raising awareness of issues that concern you and that you’d like to advocate for. Program The six-day program will include: • A theoretical and practical exploration of the concept of gender and gender representation in taken from a personal, political and social perspective; • Workshops to discuss different issues as a way of sharing personal and organizational experiences whilst raising awareness; • Videoing and video editing • The creation of a safe environment for all participants to learn more about the relationship between the societal portrayal of gender and their identity-formation; • A social program including intercultural evening, a free day, a welcome and closing party. Working methods The working methods will be varied and interactive with an emphasis on small working groups. Vega and its partners would like to have a great deal of input of experience from participants themselves (peer-to-peer education). The tools and resources developed during the conference will be made available to all organizations after the conference, so they can be multiplied in their local/regional/national/international youth communities. Participants' profile The course is aimed for youth and youth workers (students, activists, individuals) active or those who want to be encouraged to become active in their own communities and/or internationally who: • Are older then 18 years of age; • Are interested in sharing experiences and are committed to learn about the topic of the conference; • Are able to work in English; • Have some experience (even if little) related to the topic of the conference (we are looking for beginners as well as experts); • Can act as multipliers within their own organization or community; • Are committed to set up follow-up activities after the conference; • Are able to attend for the full duration of the activity. WE WOULD ESPECIALLY LIKE TO ENCOURAGE YOUNG WOMEN FROM MINORITY GROUPS TO APPLY FOR THIS CONFERENCE!