We encounter bold and generalizing statements about women and men everywhere and play a particularly important role in the development of consciousness among young people. With this year’s campaign “Bye-bye Gender Slogans”, the members of the LEA Youth Advisory Board appear as experts, take space and raise their voices to stand up against stereotypical attributions.
Based on typical gender slogans such as “Women have themselves to blame if they earn less” and inspired by their own realities, the representatives of Gen-Z have designed a conversation format in a popular podcast setting to discuss with each other how an equal society can succeed . The resulting five short videos offer authentic perspectives from young people for young people and were presented for the first time to around 80 students from four federal states as part of the second LEA Youth Summit on October 15, 2024.
Equality as a task for society as a whole
“Equality concerns us all. The here and now questions entrenched gender slogans, while the future shapes a new history. With our campaign we want to inspire, inform and show that each and every one of us can actively contribute to change,”
youth advisory board member Maya is convinced.
LEA director Nalan Gündüz emphasizes the young people’s constructive commitment to respectful coexistence: “The LEA Youth Advisory Board sends a strong signal for the active participation of young people in a more gender-equal society. Their new video campaign with high identification potential has three main goals: to raise awareness among young people, to initiate encounters and conversations and to encourage other young people to use their voice for real equality.”
Dissemination across multiple channels: social media, workshops and classes
The “Bye-bye Gender Slogans” campaign is being rolled out across channels in different formats: Social media reels ensure digital reach, while the longer videos are integrated as an integral part of LEA’s school and extracurricular workshops. School posters with three motifs serve as a visual stimulus for teachers in the classroom to address equality issues in a low-threshold manner. Finally, the card set of the same name invites you to take a deeper look, with disarming reactions to even more typical gender slogans as well as exercises for teaching.
“Working with the committed young people on our advisory board is very inspiring. The extensive distribution of our video campaign via school visits, workshops, school posters and social media was particularly important to the youth advisory board, which makes the project unique. “In this way, we ensure that the message is spread widely and has a lasting impact – from young people for young people,”
so Majlinde Osmanaj, LEA-Jugendbeirat Project Coordination.
All videos and materials for “Bye-bye Gender Slogans” are available online free of charge: https://letsempoweraustria.at/aktuelles/kampagne-jugendbeirat
Information about the LEA Youth Advisory Board
The participation of young people in social processes is essential because: Who could better decide which projects appeal to young people than themselves? The 12 committed members of the LEA Youth Advisory Board are actively committed to equal rights and breaking down stereotypes. In quarterly meetings, they provide feedback on ongoing and planned projects and contribute their own ideas. In addition, the young people implement projects themselves, take part in LEA events in official capacities and are in direct contact with the team throughout the year – for more participation and equal opportunities.