International Day of Families 2015

Today, May 15th, is International Day of Families! This year, the UN chose the theme: ''Men in charge? Gender equality and children's rights in contemporary families.'' The aim is to raise awareness towards promoting gender equality and rights of children within families. This day is especially important to us at TYO because multigenerational programming and gender equality are both cornerstones of our programming.

In The Women's Group (TWG), we work with mothers, offering seminars on health, mental health, parenting & children’s needs, education & literacy, and women’s & girl's empowerment. We work with mothers to help them understand their role in the family and in society. Men and women should be equal decision-makers in their homes and in their families. Mothers must also feel empowered to take charge of their lives and seek personal happiness - benefiting themselves and their children.

We promote gender equality in our classes for children as they are all mixed gender. In Nablus, social, cultural and religious norms and expectations, put a heavy emphasis on gender separation - every UNRWA refugee camp school and every local Nablus school that TYO children attend are separated by gender, starting at the first grade. At TYO, we try to break the cycle of thinking that mixed gender environments are harmful for children. We promote the idea of equality between the genders and have seen a great shift in children's willingness to cooperate with both boys and girls.

While changing people's conceptions about gender is a big challenge, TYO and its staff have witnessed great breakthroughs! Parents and children alike are breaking down barriers and heading towards greater gender equality.