The Strasbourg town hall is carrying out an experiment in the city's schools in order to fight against gender inequalities, which take hold in the playground.
To combat gender inequalities at school, Strasbourg town hall has equipped its young residents with connected vests. 125 child volunteers wear them in the playground to draw a map of sharing space between girls and boys.
Students from five different levels, CP, CE1, CE2, CM1, CM2 participate in this experiment, the results of which are clear: 80% of the space is occupied by only 20% of the students, mainly boys.
France Bleu takes the example of the Paul-Langevin elementary school in Cronenbourg, where the girls are isolated in a corner of the courtyard while their male classmates take up most of the space to play hawk or basketball.
“Thousands of years of patriarchy”
The director of the establishment, Chantal Magar-Vies, believes that “there is extremely important training to be put in place” because “the task is arduous”. “It’s going to take time because it interferes and reacts with society. We are still fighting against thousands of years of patriarchy and this is not going to happen overnight,” she adds.
For the town hall, it is important to address the subject because “the playground is the first public space shared by children”. However, “we realized that it was a place where inequalities already existed”, between girls and boys but also between the oldest and the youngest, explains Christelle Wieder, deputy in charge of women's rights and legality.
The municipality's objective is to promote diversity “so that everyone has the freedom to play in the playground regardless of their gender or age”. Extracurricular staff are instructed to observe children's behavior in this regard, and training for adults has been launched.
“We hope, by changing the space, to change the relationships between girls and boys, and move towards more equality, and also to prevent sexist and sexual violence,” develops Christelle Wieder.
