Gender responsive pedagogy in online learning: a framework and guidance for designers and facilitators

The COVID-19 pandemic has created new norms in teaching and learning by accelerating the uptake of online and blended approaches in professional development and education. It has also surfaced inequities in digital access and inclusion (Laufer et al., 2021). This has stressed the importance of making sure that both women and men learners are supported to access and succeed in online and blended learning. On average, women and girls across the world spend more time on unpaid care and domestic work than men. This in turn impacts their journey in education and subsequent career trajectories (Dhar, 2020). If we design online and blended learning to be gender responsive, it can offer more flexible opportunities for both women and men to access and progress through education and professional development opportunities. In this publication we present a framework and accompanying guidance to support designers and facilitators of online learning to make their events and courses gender responsive. The aim of the framework and guidance is to ensure that the needs of both women and men learners are integrated throughout the design and facilitation of online learning – and that the gender dimensions of a subject or topic are covered as part of the learning experience.