Part III Human rights education in practice Chapter 9: Human rights education and gender 139 140 KEY QUESTIONS • What is gender mainstreaming and gender specialisation and why are these approaches important for human rights education? • How can a gender lens be applied to the three stages of planning, implementing and evaluating a human rights education activity? It can no longer come as a surprise to anyone … that gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.139 I raise up my voice – not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard … we cannot succeed when half of us are held back”.140 9.1. INTRODUCTION Gender equality is about equal opportunities, rights and responsibilities for people of diverse gender identities.141 Gender inequalities and gender-based based violence and discrimination occur as the result of unequal power distribution among genders, exacerbated by discrimination reflected by societal frameworks – laws, policies and institutions – and dominant social and cultural gender norms. Considering that women and girls have historically been discriminated against owing to patriarchal norms and power structures, gender mainstreaming practices have a strong focus on advancing gender equality between women and girls/men and boys, including cis and trans gender. Gender mainstreaming also includes working toward equality for gender diverse people, those who identify as neither female nor male but a third or alternative gender, or a combination of genders or no gender. Human rights education is a significant tool for NHRIs in their efforts to promote and advocate for gender equality. Human rights education: • disseminates essential knowledge and awareness of human rights as it relates to gender • builds the capability of people to apply this knowledge to their own values, attitudes, behaviours and contexts and to develop strategies to prevent and address gender-based violations • motivates people to take action toward gender equality. 139 Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General SG/SM/6544. 140 Malala Yousafzai. 141 Efforts to achieve gender equality have, in the main, been focused on the human rights of women and girls in comparison to men and boys. However, those who identify as gender diverse also experience human rights violations as a result of their gender. Their experiences and situations are integral to gender equality work. Chapter 9: Human rights education and gender | 81