Cadette Global Action Award Activity
Make a Gender Equality Playlist
Explore how themes of gender equality show up in the music we listen to.
Activity Details
Background: In 2015, leaders around the world agreed to work together to accomplish 17 goals by 2030—these are referred to as the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, or SDGs for short. They focus on things like taking care of the environment, making sure all people have enough to eat, and improving people’s health.
The Girl Scout Global Action award calls for girls to address the Global Goals by discovering, connecting, and taking action in their communities and the world. In 2020, the award focused on SDG 5: Gender Equality.
Activity: Let’s get started! This is activity may take at least an hour or more to complete depending on how much time you spend on your playlists. You won’t need much, just:
- Laptop/phone with ability to go on the internet
- Ability to make your own playlist. You can review the music saved on your mobile device, hear what’s available through your digital music subscription service, or view music videos on YouTube.
- Journal and writing utensil to capture some of your reflections
- Two to three songs with messages about gender or two to three of your favorite songs
If the global goals are new to you, start by taking a few minutes and learning about them by checking out this great video.
Start by thinking of songs you know that have messages in them about gender—social or cultural ideas about the ways that men and women, boys and girls, should be. You can think of some of your favorite songs or songs that are popular right now and which of them have messages in them about gender.
Then, go online and look up the lyrics to the song. You can look up the YouTube video with the lyrics or check out websites like songlyrics.com. Take some time to really read and understand the lyrics. Consider the messages they’re portraying.
After you’ve dug into those lyrics, make a Gender Equality Playlist! The playlist should be made of songs that you think have a strong message of gender equality. Be sure to listen to it when you’re feeling nervous, sad, or need a boost of confidence!
This activity should have given you a chance to think about how messages of gender inequality and gender empowerment show up in different ways all around us—like in the music we listen to.
If you want to do more global activities and earn your Global Action Award, you can go to our website girlscouts.org/forgirls and click on “Think Globally.”
