How do girls and boys see themselves? How do they think they’re seen by others? What do gender stereotypes teach kids about who they’re supposed to be?
Materials:
Note: This activity requires one teachers/adult facilitator per small group, preferably matched by gender (i.e. a female facilitator for the female group and a male facilitator for the male group).
Procedure:
1. Ask students to divide into two groups based on gender. If working with a large class, you can split each gender into multiple groups -- e.g., two groups of female students, two groups of male students.2. Each group will be assigned a teacher-facilitator. Invite students to share how it feels to be grouped this way. Spend some time examining the word "gender" -- what does it mean to you? Is it too limiting? Too restrictive? Come to a common understanding of what the word means.
3. Ask group members to silently think about the messages (direct and indirect) they have received -- and continue to receive -- about what it means to be a woman/girl or a man/boy. The facilitator should offer a few examples:
"I was 17 before I got to go out at night with my friends. But it seemed like my brother always got to do what he wanted to do. The message I got from that is that girls can’t be trusted, and that we needed protecting."
"Growing up, my sisters did all of the household chores, like washing dishes and laundry. My brother and I only had to take out the trash. The message I got from that is that women are supposed to do the housework, and that cleaning wasn't a 'man's job.'"
As students brainstorm silently, it my help to have them jot down their messages on individual sheets of paper.
5. Invite open sharing of messages. Try not to offer advice or input after individuals have shared their messages. Some acknowledgment that you heard what they said is helpful. List the messages on the big piece of poster paper.
6. Ask students to look for any patterns and themes in the individual responses. Explore as a group how these patterns and themes work to shape how we see each other and ourselves as women or men, using the following questions as discussion prompts. (Alternative: Use the following questions as prompts for a 5-10 minute journal or writing exercise, and then come back together for group discussion.)
7. Invite the groups to come back together to the full class. Invite each group to silently examine the other groups' posters. Come back together in a large circle and debrief the activity: