Gender stereotypes limit what girls and women can aspire to achieve and promote income inequality, discrimination, violence and sexual abuse. According to DIGESTYC, El Salvador’s national statistics office, for every 10 women of working age, 4 are employed (for men, the numbers are 8 out of 10). Unfortunately, stereotypes are difficult to break and hide behind micro-behaviours that we - consciously or unconsciously - normalize and perpetuate.

In order to change our behaviour, we must first become conscious of our preconceived ideas. In alliance with different institutions, the San Salvador Hub is implementing art workshops for teenagers and their caregivers to discuss experiences on gender stereotypes, gender roles, discrimination, human rights and violence against women. At the end of the workshop, each participant is invited to make a personal commitment to change stereotypical actions and behaviours they see and practice on a daily basis.

The goal is to encourage participants to create more gender-equal environments within their homes, schools and communities, generating a national open dialogue and encouraging concrete actions that will help create more gender-equal environments. During the first stage of the project, the hub engaged with 4 different art organizations that conducted the workshops in which 78 people participated. The hub will also launch a media campaign to document and share the process and results of the workshops to maintain the engagement of viewers, actual and potential supporters.