A podcast on equality

Article initially published on the website of the PRESAGE programme.  

Camille Chapuis, Coline Dansou, Aurore Pageaud and Carla van Langen are students from the School of Public Affairs of Sciences Po and are participating in the Gender Equality and Public Policy certificate course. As part of this programme they carried out a group project for and with the High Council for Gender Equality, creating a podcast on gender equality.

WHAT TASK DID THE HIGH COUNCIL FOR EQUALITY GIVE YOU?

Aurore Pageaud: The High Council for Gender Equality entrusted us with the task of producing a podcast in the form of a feminist primer. We were delighted to embark on this adventure. The idea was to create a series of podcast episodes in which we address certain feminist themes. At the mic we are joined by researchers, journalists, philosophers and specialists in these issues. The aim is to democratise concepts that are sometimes very theoretical, such as egal-conditionality or feminist diplomacy, which are essential levers of action in the current feminist struggle.

WHY A PODCAST FORMAT?

Coline Dansou: Podcasts are an effective tool for transmitting knowledge to a wide audience. It’s a contemporary medium that allows more and more people to engage with other opinions and understand the experiences of others. Millions of people around the world listen to podcasts on a daily basis on topics as varied as feminism, ecology, diplomacy, gastronomy, relationships and video games. Whether for entertainment or information, podcasts are part of many of our lives and I think they influence our relationship with the world. The podcasts we listen to shape us, build us up and can make us think differently. In the context of this project, I think the podcast format has allowed us to help the audience to consider gender issues that can be complex to grasp. For me, one of the major assets of the podcast format is that it can be easily adapted and flow. It's a way of making what you say more accessible, more audible, and of capturing the audience's attention. The podcast leaves a lot of freedom to its creators and also to its listeners. In my opinion that's what makes it alive.

WHAT THEMES DID YOU WANT TO HIGHLIGHT?

Carla van Langen: We wanted to address current issues that have a particular resonance in the current political and media climate, but also issues that have emerged not so recently, but which still have a place in public debate. We want this podcast to be accessible to as many people as possible, but also to be instructive. Therefore, we had to select relatively broad topics, which raise many questions, but which we could explain clearly enough in fifteen minutes.

It also seemed interesting to us to deal with themes that are the subject of discussion and controversy, and thus to expose the different currents of thought at stake. Feminist thought raises an indefinable number of issues and questions. It is obviously impossible for us to cover everything in a few podcast episodes. We therefore had to make choices, to favour certain subjects that seemed to us less covered or more engaging than others. But I think we’re very happy with our selection. I hope that our listeners will be too!

WHAT DID YOU LEARN DURING THIS GROUP PROJECT?

Camille Chapuis: While the Gender Equality Certificate has the advantage of providing us with knowledge on specific, rather theoretical themes, the group project allowed us to discover how to make them concrete and accessible to all. First of all, because it allowed us to discover in depth the ecosystem of public, associative and private institutions playing a role in the fight for gender equality. Being able to collaborate with one of them, the High Council for Gender Equality, made perfect sense.

Beyond the theoretical aspect, this group project represents  an unprecedented opportunity for us to work on subjects that we may be familiar with, but using a method that we are not familiar with: recording a podcast requires a certain dexterity that we have acquired over the course of the episodes, and we are proud to have been able to approach feminist issues through such original means!

learn more

• Discover the podcast Féminisme Initial (in French)
• The first episode of the podcast : Égaconditionnalité : pas d’argent public sans égalité (Equal treatment: no public money without equality) (in French)
• The Certificate in Gender Equality and Public Policy of Sciences Po 
• The Research and Educational Programme on Gender Studies (PRESAGE)
• The High Council for Gender Equality (HCEfh) (in French)

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