Materials | Gender Equality

Activities & Materials

With the help of the following ideas and tips you can encourage Gender Equality into your classroom. The way teachers interact with the students have a great impact on their way of thinking due to most of the knowledge gained from school. Therefore, teachers should be careful when talking and be sure they are including everyone as well as giving several points of view, so they can choose their thinking way.

Make aware

Watching your language
- not saying guys
- not saying `I am looking for strong boys´ if you have to carry things
Having previous knowledge about some sexist notions, would make it easier to avoid it, by highlighting any gender stereotypical language used by students in the classroom.

Classroom Equipment

Positive Affirmation Mirror

Description : Place a mirror in your classroom. On top of the mirror you put the words `I AM..´ and around it you can put positive characteristic traits. With this mirror, students will be able to read affirmative sentences like `I am amazing´ or `I am generous´.

Impact : Children will be able to identify their own great features and how to embrace themselves. They will be able to compliment each other as well.

Wonder Wall

Description : Create a board in your classroom on which the students can leave little notes with questions or things they are curious about. You can integrate a little secret box in which the students can put in the notes they don't want others to see. Later on you can have a conversation with your class about the questions.

Impact : It makes your classroom a good and open environment in which everyone is able to share their thoughts.

Classroom setting

Description : Make sure when you set up the classroom to not put a gender stigma on it. Like the color pink and blue are not gender connected. This can also be he case for other things that might be seen as connected to a "girl" or "boy". Such as toys, games, tv shows,...

Impact : Every child will be free and confident enough to talk about their interests and will not be reduced to a scale of expression.

Mindset

No Negative Self Talk

Description : Teach your students to talk about themselves and their struggles in a supportive way. Make `I can't do this!´ into `I need extra help or I need more time or practice.´

Impact : Your students will understand that reaching their goals and developing isn't easy, but if they believe in themselves they can reach anything. They won’t give up and notice that asking for help is nothing bad.

Power Pose

Description : Take a little break with your class and do a Power Pose as an activity. You can see the steps of the High Power Pose (standing) and the Low Power Pose (sitting). In the next link you can also have a look at the TED Talk of Amy Cuddy who talking about, how your body language shapes who you are, and how to get more confident in 2 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7dWsJ-mEyI

Impact : The Power Pose can be really helpful before you do a task, such as presentations or speeches in front of the class. Students will feel more confident and relaxed.

Movies

Description : In the pdf you can find a list of movies which work against stereotypes and, focus more on the strengths of the character and the story they are telling.

Impact : Children get influenced by their surroundings and the people they look up to. This often times also includes their favorite movie or tv show character. By introducing children to positive figures they can also be influenced positive.

Practice

Occupations

Description : This activity will analyze and identify traditional gender roles in the workplace. Use the occupation checklist, where students will be asked to match the given jobs and careers to the gender. Start by explaining the occupations and putting pictures on the board, in case they are not really sure. Discuss it with the class without forgetting the justification and answer to the `why’, as well as any issue that might arise.

Impact : They will develop their thinking regarding standardized gender roles, as well as developing strategies for their choosing career. They will listen to all the viewpoints, which is useful for them to develop a certain thought about it.

Sports

Description : You can find a list of professional athletes from different sports in the pdf. On the list we have men and women athletes. For the activity each student will get one athlete and has a few days to prepare a presentation (poster) about this person’s sports life. Boys get women athletes and girls get men athletes. Later on you can hang up those posters in your classrooms.

Impact : Students will learn about women and men from different sport fields. It makes it easier for students to understand that men and women can be successful in the same sports even when stereotypes say the opposite. Hopefully this will decrease school yard fights like `Girls can't play soccer!´, etc.

Perception of Gender

Description : Hand out the worksheet which has a figure printed on it (pdf). For this activity the students have to draw their opposite gender, by taking account of the clothes, hair and facial expressions.

Impact : With this activity the students, as well as the teacher will get the opportunity to see the different gender perceptions of their classmates. They can also reflect on each others´ drawing and later on do their self-reflection.

Feelings and Opinions

Description : Ask students to discuss in writing their feelings and opinions about the opposite gender. Hand out the worksheet (pdf) and ask them to work on it individually. Once they are done, put them together according to gender (to later read and present their work). The others, the listeners will find common points they agree with and explain their responses and viewpoints. At the end, ask them to find points in common about the other gender, and to list the statements that could be switched to other gender columns.

Impact : In this activity students will explore attitudes, and anxieties concerning the "opposite" gender. This will help in analyzing personal and cultural attitudes toward their gender, express and show the idea (written and verbally). It is also to improve their listening skills, as well as to develop healthy, equitable and realistic attitudes toward the other gender.

All around Toys

Description : Students have to bring their favorite toy/s for this particular lesson. Everyone will briefly present their toys, by considering the following questions

Why is this my favorite toy?
Who joins me playing with this toy?
Can girls/boys also play with it?

Show the toys from the pdf and ask the following questions

Who do you think can play with this toy?
Why?

Impact : Students will get an understanding of toys not being related to gender. When limited to the type of play expected for their gender, children fail to develop certain skills. Experts say that curtailing activities according to biological sex may stunt a child’s development, as toys traditionally targeting boys tend to develop more spatial skills, while toys marked as “feminine” stimulate more sociability and caring.