In 2021 research was done on history books on woman’s activism during Peaceful and Armed Resistance in the 90s, a focus group discussed the findings, and the authors worked on the educational material which was produced in 2022. The manual “Women and Gender” gathered the fact of woman’s activism during those two periods and tells the importance of women in peacebuilding processes. This manual is one more tool for educators to increase their capacities and motivation, for organizing activities, disseminating, and using the newly produced multi-perspective educational materials which will enrich their teaching methods.
Producing alternative resources like the “Women and Gender” manual will help teachers in their education work to increase possibilities for education and to challenge the instrumentalization of the past specifically when talking about the role of women in peace and conflict of the past.
The manual comprises five chapters, including an introduction, basic material, and methodological instructions on how to use the material:
Chapter I. Gender, women, and the Conflict in Kosovo 1989-1999
Chapter II. Independent/parallel institutions: Civic mobilization and daily life
Chapter III. Women’s activism in the 1990s
Chapter IV. Resistance paradigm shift
Chapter V. History Teaching from a gender perspective
The chapters presented in this manual seek to:
• Promote gender as an analytical category in teaching history so that students understand and learn about the social constructs of gender and history;
• Apply gender analysis in various historical sources to develop critical thinking and gender sensitivity;
• Include visual methodologies in the teaching of history to foster interactive learning, critical thinking, and teamwork on topics concerning gender and women in history.
• Encourage curiosity and skill in historical research with a gender perspective.
This manual is envisaged as a complementary resource to be used by teachers of History. In compliance with the curricula documents issued by the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation of the Republic of Kosovo – MESTI, the chapters in this manual are dedicated to students of X and XII grades for the subject of History. However, they can also be used in other subjects of the curriculum, such as Society and Environment, Civic Education, Sociology, Psychology, and Philosophy and Logic, for lower and higher secondary schools, depending on the content of programs for these subjects.
Present at the workshop were history and other social sciences teachers representing schools around Kosovo, this activity was a continuation of several other planned activities within the project, containing three components:
i. The importance of using alternative materials/resources.
ii. How can we use the handbook in classes with students?
iii. Oral history as a contemporary methodology during the teaching of social sciences
This project is implemented by the forumZFD - Program in Kosovo in cooperation with the Association of History Teachers of Kosovo and is supported by funds received from the German Federal Ministry on Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ).
