The JOIN THE GAME project aims to develop a pedagogical tool for youth workers to encourage girls and young women to take on stereotypically masculine professions. The project is co-financed by the Erasmus+ program of the European Union.
Context
When choosing a career, girls often reject masculinized occupations (i.e. those in which there are more men than women, or are considered “masculine” in the social consciousness). This applies to both vocational and higher education. Girls do not take these occupations into account, despite the fact that they are in greater demand on the labor market and are associated with better wages, as research shows.
This is due to the stereotypes young women encounter from an early age. Their beliefs about their own abilities and predispositions (deepened by the formal education system) as well as the expectations laid on women to combine their careers with traditionally female responsibilities (running a home, raising children, caring for parents, etc.) restrict girls’ career choices considerably.
The JOIN THE GAME project aims to create a pedagogical tool in the form of a board game that will allow girls to explore masculinized occupations and try new skills in a safe setting. It will provide youth workers with an innovative approach to encourage girls to consider careers across the spectrum of occupations regardless of existing stereotypes and increase their chances on the labour market.
Partners
The JOIN THE GAME project gathers 4 European partners:
- Fundacja Laboratorium Zmiany (Poland – coordinator)
- Fundacio Universitaria Balmes (Spain)
- Udruga za Ljudska Prava i Gradansku Participaciju Pariter (Croatia)
- Pour la Solidarité (Belgium)
This consortium has previously successfully collaborated on another European project (CROSSROADS).
JOIN THE GAME in a nutshell
- Kick-off meeting, Spain, 4-5 April 2022
- Safe spaces training, Brussels, June 2022
- Game creation and adaptation training, Poland, September 2022
- Toolkit training, Croatia, February 2023
- Urban game “Join the Game”, April 2022 – September 2023
- Public event, “How do girls deal with exclusion in the labor market?”, Spain, September – December 2023
- Public event, “A world without stereotypes – a game”, Poland, September – November 2023
- The mid-term meeting, Poland, June 2023
- Public event, “A world without stereotypes – a game”, Croatia, June – September 2023
- Public event, “Project Synthesis Conference”, Brussels, January 2024
- Final conference, Brussels, January 2024