The story of the schools project

The Beyond Equality school project was initially called the Great Men Project and was created by Sarah Perry and Genevieve Dawson in 2013 as part of The GREAT Initiative. It was their vision, commitment and hard work that brought this project to life. Sarah in particular put a huge amount of work into getting the project launched and running, it was her vision of a project that engaged men in combating & disrupting gender stereotypes that sits as the foundation of our ethos to this day. Continued thanks also go to Belinda Zhawi, Maria Neophytou, Rebecca Collins and Ben Hurst for the hours, weeks and years they put into making the project what it is.

We have also benefited immeasurably from the consistent input, advice and help of our volunteer community. Our volunteers have always provided ideas for how to run workshops, told us where we are missing things out and helped to create many of the key parts of the activities that we use today. Particular thanks and credit go to our senior facilitators, this is a group of volunteers who have provided huge amounts of support, time, labour, energy and emotion into developing this project, helping it to thrive and holding us to account to be working at our best. They are: Giovanni Bienne, Henri Ward, James Booth, Jamie Wilkes, Lewis Greener, Matt Kynaston, Nat Cole, Nat Horne, Saaqib Afzal and Tom Ross-Williams. Without these people we would not be the organisation that we are today.

As Beyond Equality we continue to deliver the same vital work of disrupting gender stereotypes in schools that was started by Sarah & Genevieve and added to by countless volunteers, friends, organisations, professionals and academics along the way. We will continue to adapt and change as we learn and the world changes around us, but will always stick to our core principles of being an organisation that brings men into the movement for gender equality as committed, humble and active allies.

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The original version of this history was compiled by David Brockway, who had various roles with the organisation for 6 years, including Head of Schools Projects. The organisation is incredibly grateful for the years of service, dedication, and care that David brought to this role, making a positive difference in hundreds of schools, and the lives of many young people.

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