“Gender Empowerment Through Politics In the Classroom” (G-EPIC) is a multinational project led in Spain by our fellow Gema García Albacete and funded through a Horizon grant by the European Commission (HORIZON, 2023-2026).
The gender gap in political leadership, political ambition and political self-efficacy is the most persistent and most difficult to tackle across Western democracies, yet ensuring the future of democracy requires empowering all social group to engage. Research shows that many political attitudes are formed between the ages 11-16. During this period, the gender gap in political confidence grows substantially. G-EPIC aims to tackle the challenge of gendered political inequality from an intersectional perspective, through a novel research programme that broadly assesses how the gender gap in political participation is learnt through interaction in a social educational context. It proposes to develop a systematic approach, to gain understanding of the state of play on gendered political inequality and then to design, pilot and evaluate inclusive school-based interventions (didactics) that foster the political self-efficacy of disadvantaged young girls in six European countries (Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom). It also includes the formulation of policy recommendations and the drafting of a gender-sensitive regulatory framework.
