While the U.S.’s basic human rights topple down with the reentry of the Trump Administration in the White House, across the Atlantic in France, public schools are rolling out new “essential” gender equality and consent curriculum.
France’s Education Minister Elisabeth Borne is said to be launching a new plan to elevate sex education in schools across the country to combat sexual violence against women and girls. This good news follows a similar trend in other European countries like the U.K. which has launched new government plans to treat the worst cases of misogyny as extremism, according to reports from Pink News.
Borne served as French prime minister between May 2022 and January 2024, before she resigned due to political turmoil. In conservation with broadcast France Inter she said “Education about love, about relationships and sexuality is absolutely essential.”
The new curriculum will be implemented at schools following this year’s summer holidays and will include three sex education sessions per year for primary, middle and secondary schools. The new syllabus includes age-appropriate discussions on gender identity and biological sex for children as young as four, a practice which puts U.S. state legislation like Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, an educational ban on discussions of sexuality, to shame.
Borne also confirmed that the program would correspond with the age and maturity of students. Through the years they will engage in “role-play scenarios” such as asking peers if they can hold hands, as a means of learning that it’s okay to say ‘no.’ “The program is very careful to provide quality information that is adapted to a pupil’s age,” said Borne.
Pink News reports that adolescents will be introduced to the “distinctions between biological sex, gender and sexual orientation” at the age of 13. At 14, students will be able to explore “the complex reality of sexuality, discussing its facets of pleasure, love ,and reproduction.” And by 16, students will learn about biological differences between men and women, as well as the effects of self-expression and behavior on identity.
The new curriculum has been submitted to France’s Higher Education Council for approval, but Borne emphasizes that the program does not intend to take the place of students’ parents and families in teaching values. France’s decision to implement this curriculum reflects the importance the country places on respect, understanding, and tolerance.
