Gender sensitisation in the Zambian Copperbelt

•This paper examines the effectiveness of gender sensitisation in Zambia.•Abstract messages of equality rarely seem to undermine gender beliefs.•Exposure to flexibility in gender divisions of labour appears more significant.•But sensitisation can have a synergistic influence, especially if participatory. This paper examines gender sensitisation in Kitwe, Zambia. My evidence, derived from a year’s ethnographic research, suggests that gender sensitisation is most effective when participants are also exposed to flexibility of gender divisions of labour. Seeing a critical mass of women performing socially valued roles appears to be interpreted as validation of abstract messages of equality. Such synergy is most commonly enabled when gender sensitisation is participatory. By sharing experiences of flexibility in gender divisions of labour, group discussants often come to publicly question widely-shared assumptions about men and women’s differing competence and status. Hearing others express support for gender equality also shifts presumptions about cultural expectations.