Gender Matters: Global Studies Teachers’ Workshop

August 27, 2019
Sue J. Goldie.

What is gender? What is the current state of gender equality in different global communities? How do understandings of gender shape access, opportunities, and systems? These questions were the foundation for a four-day, interdisciplinary educators’ workshop at Harvard University. The workshop brought together about 35 educators from across the country to focus on this year’s theme of “Gender Matters.” This year’s multidisciplinary speakers considered both issues of identity and equality.

GHELI Faculty Director Sue J. Goldie kicked off the conference and laid the foundation for thinking about gender in a global landscape. Before diving into the surprising parallels between public health and gender, Goldie gave the room of educators a “pop quiz” on global progress. After participants were thoroughly warmed up from the quiz, Goldie outlined a framework of “problems” and “responses” that educators could use to help students pull apart complex global problems into their component parts. Educators returned to this framework time and time again throughout the workshop as the teachers worked through their evolving understanding of gender equity. Goldie culminated the interactive session with tips and tricks for making sense of global data on gender.

Later in the afternoon, GHELI’s Nina Bhattacharya moderated a panel about building inclusive classrooms to support transgender and nonbinary students. Panelists included educators Flavia Vidal and M.J. Engel from Phillips Academy Andover; a.t. Furuya, the Youth Programs Manager at GLSEN; and Matthew Savini-Burke, a student at North Shore Community College. The emotional and animated panel covered topics from trauma-informed education, inclusive practices, and personal experiences within the classroom.

By day four, teachers set out for home tired but enthusiastic and encouraged. Many came back this year, inspired by their experiences in previous years, where themes ranged from water to mapping, journalism, migration, and urbanization. First launched in 2013, Global Studies Outreach at Harvard is a cross-university collaboration among centers and programs that share a commitment to conduct educational outreach to help the public, especially K-12 teachers and students, better understand the complex world in which we live. In addition to the Global Health Education and Learning Incubator at Harvard University, GSOC is co-sponsored by the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the Center for African Studies, the Asia Center, and Harvard Divinity School’s Religious Literacy Project.

Learn more about last year’s Global Studies workshop on the internet, or peruse the collection of resources curated for this year’s workshop.