Gender Matters is a manual on gender-based violence affecting young people.The manual constitutes a useful introduction to gender and gender-based violence for people who work with young people, by providing reflections on gender and gender-based violence, a background to key social, political and legal issues.It provides practical methods and resources for education and awareness-raising activities with young people.

Gender Matters was first published in 2007, within the Human Rights Education Youth Programme of the Council of Europe. It followed and built on Compass, the popular manual on human rights education with young people and Compasito. Both of these publications make reference to issues of gender, gender equality and gender-based violence.

Gender Matters has been used as an educational resource in numerous educational activities run at the European Youth Centres in Strasbourg and Budapest. Translated into several languages, the manual has reached youth groups and youth organisations across Europe, supporting work against the gender-based violence.The growing awareness of gender inequality and gender-based violence as obstacles to the full participation and development of young people needs to be accompanied by up-to-date and accessible educational resources.

Gender Matters is an important resource in support of the Council of Europe youth sector strategy 2030 and the Youth for Democracy programme, notably regarding young people’s access to rights, human rights education and combating all forms of discrimination with an intersectional approach. (More about Gender Equality and Youth)

This manual is also useful for pursuing the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 5 on Gender Equality, and the Council of Europe’s Gender Equality Strategy.
 

 You can order Gender Matters  on the online Council of Europe bookshop.