Role Plays to Reduce Gender Stereotypes

Goals

Speak openly about the ways gender stereotypes and pressure to conform to socially constructed gender norms influence their daily lives ;

Use dramatic expression to brainstorm ways to combat rigid ideas about gender in their daily lives ;

Internalize the fact that teasing or bullying someone because they do not conform to gender norms or stereotypes is never acceptable and ultimately harms all of us ;

Continue developing a community where individual identity is respected and students feel safe about expressing themselves ;

Form a collective definition of gender that respects a wide variety of gender expressions.

Brief description of the issue

A strong endorsement of gender stereotypes is associated with higher school dropout rates, for boys as well as for girls. We learn those stereotypes from a very young age, therefore they have to be broken down even at the elementary level if we want to give students all the chances they need to succeed in school. To do this, concrete activities aiming at deconstructing gender stereotypes can be very helpful and spark interesting discussion with your group.

The Teaching Tolerance website has put together a variety of classroom resources in many social justice domains and on multiple topics. The mission of this organization is “to help teachers and schools educate children and youth to be active participants in a diverse democracy” by providing them free resources.

This lesson plan, Role Plays to Reduce Gender Stereotypes, according to the website, “offers role plays and essential questions to guide students as they participate. Children have a chance to use creative, dramatic expression to consider not only the roots of gender stereotypes, but also their consequences and strategies for counteracting them.”

Find the activity by clicking on this link.