8 Free Lesson Plans on "SDG 5: Gender Equality" for All Grade Level Students

Gender equality is essential for a just, sustainable, and prosperous world, making it the cornerstone of Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5). This goal emphasizes the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls, promoting equal opportunities in education, employment, leadership, and beyond. Teaching students about SDG 5 empowers them to recognize and challenge gender stereotypes, fostering a more inclusive and equitable society.

In this post, you’ll find 8 free, interactive lesson plans designed to help your students explore and engage with the concept of gender equality through critical thinking, empathy, and collaboration.

💡 The digital SDG 5 activities are created with BookWidgets, a content creation and evaluation tool for teachers. You can make a free copy of the lessons below to your BookWidgets account, or you can navigate to this BookWidgets group folder where you can find them all together. This allows you to duplicate the activities, make changes (language, instructions, settings) when needed, and share it with your students. This way, you will also receive the results and be able to provide student feedback.

Make sure to check out more SDG lesson resources below. We’re releasing a new blog post with ready-to-use SDG activities every month!

Now, let’s get started!

What is SDG 5: Gender Equality

Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5) focuses on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls by 2030. This goal aims to eliminate discrimination, violence, and harmful practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation while promoting equal access to education, healthcare, economic resources, and leadership opportunities. It also advocates for shared responsibilities within households and communities, emphasizing the need for inclusive decision-making processes at all levels.

SDG 5 recognizes that gender inequality is a fundamental barrier to sustainable development, affecting not only women and girls but entire societies. By addressing these disparities, SDG 5 seeks to create a world where everyone has the opportunity to thrive, regardless of gender.

Why should you include SDG 5 in your lessons?

• Promoting awareness and empathy: Teaching students about gender equality helps them understand the systemic issues that affect women and girls globally. By examining real-world scenarios, students develop empathy and a deeper awareness of social justice.
• Challenging stereotypes: Classrooms are ideal spaces to challenge gender stereotypes and biases. By integrating SDG 5 into lessons, teachers encourage students to question societal norms and promote inclusive attitudes.
• Fostering critical thinking: Gender equality intersects with various social, economic, and political issues. Discussing these complexities helps students develop critical thinking skills and encourages them to propose solutions for real-world problems.
• Empowering future leaders: Educating young people about gender equality prepares them to become advocates for change. Whether in their future workplaces, communities, or governments, they’ll be equipped to push for policies and practices that promote equality.
• Building inclusive classrooms: Incorporating SDG 5 into lessons fosters a culture of respect and inclusivity in the classroom. This not only benefits individual students but also creates a more supportive and collaborative learning environment.

By including SDG 5 in your curriculum, teachers can inspire the next generation to champion equality, ensuring a more just and balanced future for everyone.

Check out this checklist with all the themes and goals set for SDG 5.

8 Free and Interactive Lesson Plans to Teach SDG 5 – Gender Equality

1. A woman is … Reflection Lesson Learning Path

In this digital BookWidgets planner activity, your students reflect on what it is to be a woman. They have to navigate through 3 assignments and learn about respecting women and what it’s like to be a woman (even if they are a man). This reflection activity on SDG 5 - Gender equality is a perfect fit for high school students.

2. SDG 5 - Gender Equality Terminology Flashcards

Using these gender equality terminology Flashcards in your lesson is an interactive way to familiarize students with key concepts related to SDG 5. Each flashcard features a term, such as gender equity, gender-based violence, or intersectionality, along with a definition.

Begin by introducing a few terms, then divide students into small groups and assign each group a set of flashcards. Students can take turns explaining their terms to the group or matching terms with relevant scenarios. Ask them to find good examples. This activity promotes collaboration, deepens understanding of gender-related issues, and encourages critical thinking as students discuss how these terms apply to achieving gender equality in different contexts.

3. Reinforce Gender Equality Terminology with a Crossword Puzzle

After introducing gender equality terminology through flashcards, consolidate your students’ understanding with a crossword puzzle. This engaging activity is an excellent way to reinforce key concepts while keeping students motivated.

Each description in the puzzle corresponds to a term they’ve just learned. Ask students to complete the puzzle individually or in pairs, encouraging collaboration and discussion. This not only helps them recall definitions but also strengthens their problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.

By incorporating a crossword puzzle, you’re making the learning process more interactive and memorable. It helps students retain the essential vocabulary needed to grasp the complexities of SDG 5: Gender Equality. Plus, it adds an element of fun that keeps students engaged while deepening their understanding of gender-related issues.

4. Hooves and paws

This bedtime story with a moral from naratopia.com is perfect for teaching preschoolers and kindergartners about true friendship and (gender) equality. The message - “True friendship comes from the heart, not from being the same.” - sets the stage for an in-class conversation with your toddlers about (gender) equality.

5. Famous Women in History Pair Matching Game

A pair-matching activity featuring famous women is a great way to highlight gender equality by showcasing influential female leaders across various fields. Each card set includes a woman’s name on one card and her picture with a quote on another.

Your middle school students work in pairs or small groups to match the names with the pictures and look up their accomplishments, learning about figures like Malala Yousafzai, Marie Curie, or Frida Khalo. This activity fosters discussion about gender barriers these women faced and overcame, emphasizing the importance of equal opportunities. It also inspires students to reflect on how gender equality can lead to societal progress, aligning with SDG 5’s empowerment and equal representation goals.

6. The Hill We Climb - Amanda Gorman

Using a split worksheet activity with Amanda Gorman’s poem “The Hill We Climb” helps students explore themes of empowerment, resilience, and equality, key aspects of SDG 5. In this activity, one part of the worksheet contains a video of her speech/poem and the written poem, while the other prompts students to analyze its themes and connect them to gender equality.

Students work in pairs or small groups, with each group analyzing different stanzas and discussing how Gorman’s words reflect overcoming barriers and advocating for equality. This encourages critical thinking, close reading, and meaningful discussions on gender dynamics, inspiring students to envision a more inclusive future while deepening their understanding of SDG 5.

7. The World’s First Novelist - Jigsaw Puzzle

A jigsaw puzzle activity featuring Murasaki Shikibu, the world’s first novelist, is an engaging way to teach SDG 5 to primary school students. As your students complete the jigsaw puzzle, they’ll learn about Shikibu’s groundbreaking role in a male-dominated literary world, emphasizing the importance of gender representation in history. Students unlock an audio story about her contributions, reinforcing the message that women’s voices have shaped culture and society for centuries. This activity fosters teamwork, critical thinking, and an appreciation for gender equality in literature.

8. Gender stereotypes - Video Quiz

A video quiz about gender stereotypes is a powerful tool to teach SDG 5 by challenging students’ perceptions and sparking discussion. Start by playing a thought-provoking video that showcases common gender stereotypes in early childhood, educational choises, and careerpaths. The video pauzes to include comprehension questions and reflection prompts.

This activity encourages students to identify stereotypes, reflect on their impact, and consider ways to break these biases in their own lives. By engaging visually and interactively, students develop critical thinking skills and a deeper understanding of gender equality, aligning with SDG 5’s goals.

This video quiz activity sets the stage for a classroom discussion on stereotypes between male and female students. After this video quiz introduction lesson, here are some questions you can ask them.

1. What stereotypes stood out to you in the video, and why do you think they are so common?
2. Did gender stereotypes affect your choices in education?
3. Can you think of any examples from your own life or the media where someone challenged a gender stereotype?
4. Why do you think certain stereotypes persist despite societal progress toward equality?
5. How do gender stereotypes impact men and women differently?
6. What role do schools play in either reinforcing or challenging gender stereotypes?
7. How can we, as a class, promote a more inclusive environment that avoids gender bias?
8. Do you think social media has helped reduce or reinforce gender stereotypes? Why?
9. What are some practical steps we can take to challenge gender stereotypes in our daily lives?
10. Why is it important for future generations to grow up in a world with fewer gender stereotypes, and how can we help make that happen?

More ready-to-use SDG lesson plans and resources

Reminder: this is part four of a blog post series about teaching your students about the SDGs. I will post a new blog post about the next SDG in line every month. Go check out earlier blog posts on the SDGs:

• 8 Engaging Lesson Plans to Teach “SDG 1: No Poverty” to Your Students
• 8 Creative Ways to Teach “SDG 2: Zero Hunger” to Your Students
• 8 Free Lesson Plans to Teach “SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being”
• Bringing SDG 4 into the classroom: 8 lesson ideas for quality education

And if you can’t wait this long on all the other posts, I already created 1 lesson for each SDG in this digital group work planner activity. Here’s the blog post about teaching the SDGs and you can find all the seperate SDG activities in this BookWidgets group folder in case you want to make some changes.

Wrap up

Teaching SDG 5 in your classroom with BookWidgets allows students to engage with gender equality on a personal and global level. Each lesson promotes critical thinking, empathy, and action, empowering students to contribute to a more equitable world.

Remember, all the featured SDG lesson plans are designed with BookWidgets. You can duplicate the SDG lesson plans from this group, adapt them, and share them with your students. You can also create lessons on this topic or any other topic from scratch. Want to learn more about creating engaging lesson activities with BookWidgets?

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