On May 10, 18 students participated in role-playing games prepared by Nancy Borisova from the Center for Sustainable Communities Development.
The goal was for each of them to get a character and take a step forward or backward depending on whether or not they could afford certain life benefits. Some were socially advantaged people in high official positions or with rich relatives, others were socially weak, mothers of many children, pensioners or disabled people.
At the end of the game, everyone told the others what their character was and why they were ahead or behind the others. Together they had a discussion about what equality means and how easy it is for someone to become a victim of discrimination when they are at a disadvantage.
Each of the students understood the difference between equality and justice thanks to the game borrowed from the NEMO Toolkit prepared by a previous project of the Center for Sustainable Communities Development.
The classes continued with the distribution of various cards with trivia questions about women, inventors, researchers, aviators, Nobel Prize winners. The students were divided into pairs, and each pair's goal was to discuss what the given woman inspired them with, whether they had heard of her or her invention, and what they want to get from her as a quality.
The children were particularly impressed that a number of inventions used today mainly by men, such as silicone glue and the circular saw, were created by women. They also expressed a desire to view the special Career Rocket world maps, where one inspirational woman from each country is named and her achievement is described.
At the end of the meeting, the young people were very satisfied with the form of the activity and expressed interest in playing similar games at school more often in the future.