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This paper explores the differences between training and education, specifically in relation to training for gender equality. The objective is to further clarify the UN Women Training Centre’s definition of training for gender equality, and in particular how it differs from and overlaps with the field of feminist adult education. While there are key differences between training for gender equality and feminist adult education, they share a common commitment to feminist pedagogical principles and practices. As such, it is more helpful to conceptualize these two fields as co-constituting on a continuum of learning, as opposed to in opposition.

This involves an approach to training that is both embedded in feminist pedagogical principles and practices and explicitly inter-linked with feminist adult education. As such, we need to harness the overlaps between the two in terms of their potential to contribute to awareness-raising and consciousness-building; knowledge enhancement; skills development; changes in attitudes, behaviors and practices; and mobilisation for social transformation in order to lead to learning and knowledge circulation that truly advances the cause of transformation for gender equality.