Children and young people receive and absorb gender stereotyped messages about what they can and cannot do as a girl or as a boy from a very early age. Film, television and social media all tend to perpetuate the notion of distinct female and male behaviours and attributes. These stereotypes are unhelpful for both boys and girls.

This action guide provides some ideas for how to challenge gender stereotypes without losing the child-centred approach.

Tackling your own unconscious bias: self-reflective actions

We all have unconscious biases, and it’s important to be aware of these in our interactions with children. They affect the ways we interact differently with girls and boys, the assumptions we make and the advice and directions we give them. Although admitting and dealing with your own biases can be challenging, it is essential to identify, reflect on, and discuss them openly with colleagues.

Having an unconscious gender bias does not automatically make a person sexist – everyone has biases to some degree as a result of years of exposure to gendered patterns. The good news is that once you become aware of your biases you can do something about them. By shifting thinking gradually over time, a person can adopt new habits and perspectives to help counteract any bias behaviour.

Are you aware of your own unconscious biases? Take the Harvard Implicit Association test to discover your
unconscious preferences.

Reflective questions

• What assumptions might you unconsciously make about which curricular areas and types of activities girls and boys prefer?
• Do you encourage boys to be adventurous and explore, but urge girls doing the same types of activity to be careful?
• Do you console girls when they are hurt, but encourage boys to be brave?
• How can you encourage more equal development of confidence and resilience?
• Do you expect and/or accept different behaviour from boys and girls, for example, quieter behaviour from girls and more boisterous behaviour from boys?
• When children and young people are participating in activities that are traditionally associated with their own gender, do you encourage them more?
• Are you aware of what you praise or criticise children for, for example, are you more accepting of messy handwriting from boys, or more likely to praise girls for the presentation of their work?
• Do you praise boys more than girls for their ideas or achievements or girls more than boys for the way they look and for playing ‘nicely’?
• Are you careful not to brand certain subjects as more difficult, or label certain individuals as naturally good at a subject? Research on growth mindset cautions against depicting achievement as innate.

Early years

By the time children enter early learning settings they may already be developing gender based expectations of behaviours, academic preferences and perceived abilities. These stereotypical views can shape their attitudes to relationships, participation in the world of work and affect their wellbeing. A narrowing of experiences at this stage too often evolves into a narrowing of opportunities later in life. 

Although the problem is multifaceted, Early Learning and Childcare practitioners have an important role to play in challenging these views before they become too ingrained. While children should not be coerced into any activity, adopting the attitude that children are able to choose whatever they want for themselves will not counteract the problem.

Many children self-select out of certain activities based on their observations of what is appropriate. It is crucial that children are given the opportunity and encouragement to access all areas of the curriculum from this early stage so they have equality of opportunity in the future. Early Years practitioners are expert
in focusing on the needs of an individual child and being child-led.

Actions for engaging with the children in ELC settings

There are a number of easy to implement ideas that can help counteract gender stereotypes. The following suggestions were developed and/or observed as part of the IGB Scotland project.

Encourage children to use all areas of the setting It might be useful to start by observing the patterns
of use of different areas of the setting. Are there activities dominated by one group of children and avoided by another? The block play area of the setting can be dominated by boys.

Try changing the dynamic by:

• Developing a narrative for construction activities by adding some elements for imaginative play such as toy figures, small tiles, and electric tea lights or taping pictures of the children onto individual blocks.
• Using a whiteboard, books and other sources to encourage children to plan for what they are making.
• Holding discussions with children about their planning e.g., “How high does it need to be?” and “Let’s get the tape measure out” to develop confidence and STEM skills.

Quieter activities such as book reading, craft and exploring the ‘home corner’, may be more appealing to girls and regularly avoided by some boys. Consider whether there are things you could change or add to encourage all children to access these activities, such as:

• Making sure those areas have a range of themes, colours and objects.
• Positively commenting on boys exploring in the home area - they also need to role-play caring and domesticity.
• Thinking about how literacy can be introduced in any area in the setting, for example, encourage mark making, the first step towards writing, by having post-it notes for children to draw on and label to strengthen other activities.

Explore gender roles during circle time

Even at a young age children can respond well to discussions about what is and is not acceptable for girls and boys to do, wear or say. During circle time try challenging traditional gender stereotypes by:

• Flipping standard roles in traditional rhymes and songs eg In “Miss Polly had a dolly who was sick, sick, sick…” the doctor could be a she instead of a he, and so on.
• Asking children to sort toys (without mentioning gender) and discussing the logic and reasoning with them afterwards eg, “Would all girls like the girl toys? Might any boys like them?” “What makes it a girl’s toy?” “Why does being blue make it a boy’s toy?”

Discuss stereotypes in books

You could discuss stereotypes in the standard texts by asking the children questions about the story and characters:

• Is it ok for dads to stay at home and look after the baby? Does anyone know a dad who looks after children?
• What does it mean to be brave? Can girls be brave?
• Can mums have jobs?
• Can women be firefighters? Can men be teachers?

You could also choose texts specifically for their ability to challenge perceptions of who can do what. There are many to choose from. Some recommendations are:

• My Mummy is an Engineer/a Scientist/a Plumber by Kerrine Bryan  and Jason Bryan.
• The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
• Dogs Don’t Do Ballet by Anna Kemp & Sarah Ogilvie
• Rosie’s Hat by Julia Donaldson and Anna Currey.
• The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires.

Set up a child-led fair play group

You could enable a small group of children to focus on unintentional gender messages in the setting by
establishing a child working group. Membership could rotate every term. Encourage the children to observe
the environment and, if necessary, make suggestions for changes. Sharing their observations with parents (or allowing the children to do so) can be particularly effective. The children could investigate by:

• Looking at clothes and fabrics in the dressing up area, is there a range of fabrics and accessories that could be incorporated into imaginative play to go beyond the stereotyped princesses and superheroes
• Looking at the range and representation of figures in the imaginative play areas – is there an equal mix of both male and female characters?
• Looking at wall displays – is there a range of positive role models for girls and boys? Are both men and women portrayed in a range of roles in the workplace and in the home?

Reflective questions

• Are there any areas of the setting that tend to be dominated by one group more than another?
• Are you aware of any children who tend to limit themselves to a narrow selection of curricular activities?
• How might activities be structured or presented to encourage children who might not otherwise choose them to explore more widely?
• When selecting toys, resources and rhymes for use, do they challenge traditional gender stereotypes

Primary school

When children begin primary school at the age of four or five, many will already be self-selecting activities, books, toys and friends influenced by gender-based beliefs. Many children will have expectations that girls
are inherently quiet, compliant and nurturing, while boys are boisterous, confident and should avoid anything traditionally considered feminine. At around five to seven years old, children tend to identify strongly with
expectations of their own gender and are likely to actively conform to stereotypes.

These stereotypical views shape their attitudes to relationships and participation in the world of work, and affect wellbeing. A narrowing of experiences at this age too often evolves into a narrowing of opportunity
later in life. For example, by secondary school, boys tend to lag behind girls in literacy and language skills while girls are under-represented in areas such as computing, engineering and physics.

Although the problem is multifaceted, teachers have an important role to play in challenging these views before they become too ingrained. Learners need to be exposed to multiple and ongoing opportunities
to explore and learn about gender stereotypes and how they affect choices. It is crucial that children are given the opportunity and encouragement to access all areas of the curriculum from an early age so they have equal opportunities in the future, irrespective of gender.

Actions for engaging with the children in Primary settings

Care needs to be taken when initially exploring learner attitudes to gender. For example, when asked directly about jobs that women and men can do, children will generally answer positively and be confident that “anyone can do anything”. However, children’s attitudes will still be influenced by gender stereotypes and unconscious biases.

Books and stories

Many fictional texts uphold traditional stereotypes. You could:

• Discuss the stereotypes with learners. What stereotypes does the book illustrate? Are they justified?
• Ask children to rewrite a traditional fairy story with the main characters’ roles swapped, or write a story about a brave heroine, or a male protagonist who needs rescuing.
• Alternatively, provide learners with modern stories that specifically challenge stereotypes. Try to include those with caring male characters as well as strong female protagonists. Some recommendations are:
• Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole
• My Mummy is an Engineer/a Scientist/a Plumber by Kerrine Bryan & Jason Bryan.
• Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian

Class discussions

Use a range of materials and activities to stimulate discussion. For example:

Ask learners to each write three words they associate with girls and three words they associate with boys. Ask them if they see any patterns in the words. Are the words fair? Do the words apply to all girls and all boys? How do the words make them feel? Is it okay to use them?

Ask learners to draw a range of professionals (such as a firefighter, scientist, teacher, gymnast, doctor or farmer). Ask them to identify which ones they have drawn as women and which they have drawn as men. Why did they make those choices? Are there any jobs only women/men can do?

Ask children to examine toy advertising. How are they marketed? Is the advertising fair? Why do they think advertisers market in the ways they do?

Which sports are accessible to women and men? Which sports are shown on TV? How much are professionals paid? How much prize money can they win? For older children, this could be extended to
broader conversations about the gender pay gap. (In the UK women earn an average of 18% less than men.)

Classroom interactions and layout

The pattern of classroom interactions can unintentionally reinforce messages of expected and accepted
behaviours. You could:

Review your seating arrangements. Are these designed for learning or behaviour management? What are the impacts on well behaved girls who are often inadvertently used as behaviour management tools?

Use cooperative learning strategies. Explicit roles for discussion and group work will allow less confident children to contribute and can help the more exuberant class members learn how not to dominate.

Monitor your classroom interactions. High-achieving boys are more likely than girls to put their hands up and get attention. Lower-achieving boys are least likely to contribute at all.

Download a self-evaluation template Improving Gender Balance Scotland | An action guide for primary schools

Reflective questions:

• Does the class have sufficient and regular opportunities within the schoolyear to consider gender stereotypes, unconscious bias and their effects?
• Are learners encouraged to identify and challenge gender stereotyping in an open, safe and constructive environment?
• Do you regularly use inclusive teaching strategies to enable all children to participate equally?
• Are all children in the class able to enjoy a genuinely equal experience of all aspects of the curriculum?

Whole school ethos: actions that your organisation can take

There are some steps you can take with colleagues to ensure a school-wide approach to tackling gender stereotypes.

Leadership and peer support

It is important that the whole staff, including support staff, feel able to tackle these issues, both individually
and collectively. You could approach this by:

• Ensuring there is dedicated time at staff meetings for discussion on gender stereotyping, unconscious bias and any related concerns.
• Supporting a staff member or working group to lead in researching and developing an action plan.
• Planning opportunities for teachers to observe each other and discuss patterns of classroom interaction in supportive ways.
• Working with the Parent Council to ensure its members understand the initiatives and to gain their insights.

Language and behaviour

There is still a surprising amount of sexist language and behaviour used in society and this can be picked up and imitated by young children. You could tackle this by:

Monitoring how far this language filters into the classroom and dealing with sexist language in the same way as racist and homophobic language.

Supporting both staff and children in constructively challenging inappropriate behaviour or unfortunate choice of language.

Raising awareness of instances of subtler gender stereotypes in language. For example, the question: “Is anyone’s dad an engineer?” can be an ongoing reinforcement of the idea that mums cannot be engineers, just as “Did your mum check your homework?” reinforces the idea that women do the bulk of childcare.

Careers awareness and employability

Ideas about what children are good at, and subsequently what paths are accessible to them, are embedded from an early age. The school can take some simple steps to avoid inadvertently steering children away from subjects based on cultural perceptions of whether they are girls’ or boys’ subjects, easy or hard subjects.
You could:

Look at how different subjects are presented and whether all subjects and topics are presented as equally challenging and accessible. Do all staff take care to avoid inadvertently reinforcing the idea that certain subjects are harder than others? There is a particular issue nationally with maths and science being perceived
as difficult.

Develop a network of former learners who are willing to visit and talk about their jobs, the courses they studied and the choices they made.

Set up a learner-led group

Establishing a learner group with representatives from different year groups can be very powerful. Allowing the children to share their observations with peers, staff and parents/carers can be particularly effective.
The children could:

Audit wall displays to confirm there is a range of positive role models for all children, including women and men portrayed in a range of roles in both the workplace and the home.

Audit resources throughout the school, eg fiction and nonfiction books, imaginative play figures for younger children, workbooks for older children. As far as possible, do the resources celebrate diversity?

Plan, deliver and analyse a survey for learners (and/or parents and carers) about their opinions on what it means to be male or female, thoughts on future jobs and equal pay.

Plan and deliver assemblies to raise awareness, across the school community, of gender stereotypes.

Reflective questions

• Does a member of staff have the role of gender champion? Having someone with gender balance on their remit can be useful in maintaining a whole school reflection on gender.
• Are all substantial differences between boys and girls in achievement and participation noted and identified as gender issues? Eg, do boys enjoy reading? Are girls active in PE?
• Do staff feel able to challenge each other and learners constructively? Is there an ethos of open, safe and collaborative working to support this?
• Are learners able to lead on school projects /surveys focused on gender issues and share their findings with others?

Communicating with parents and carers

Long-lasting cultural change will only be achieved if all members of the school community are involved, including parents and carers. You could involve parents and carers by:

• Explaining rationale through newsletters and social media, at family learning sessions or at parents’ evenings.
• Adding suggestions to story sacks to prompt and support parents to identify and discuss gender stereotypes when reading with their children.
• Inviting male parents/carers to participate in activities to counteract the perception that only women care or nurture, particularly if the school is predominantly staffed by women.
• Supporting parents/carers in not passing on any anxieties they themselves may have about certain subjects eg the perception that mathematics is difficult.

Reflective questions:

• Are all parents aware of the ethos of the school in relation to counteracting gender stereotypes?
• Do you feel able to discuss issues of gender stereotyping with parents/carers and to present alternative viewpoints where appropriate? If not, can work be done with colleagues to identify good strategies for gentle and effective communication?
• Do you ensure that dads/grandfathers/male carers as well as mums/grandmothers/female carers receive information from the school and are invited to be involved?

Secondary school

Young people starting secondary school will have already developed gender based expectations of academic preferences, perceived abilities and behaviours. Many girls will have learned to be compliant, and are often praised for that compliance. However, those behaviours are not necessarily ones that will be useful in the workplace. Girls might well also be lacking belief in their capabilities, especially in maths and science. Boys tend to fall into two distinct groups: either very confident academically, or, have low expectations of themselves and choose to opt out and not compete at all. This academic underachievement amongst
some boys is, in part, a gender issue and should be tackled as such.

In terms of academic preferences, by secondary school, boys tend to lag behind girls in literacy and language skills and girls are still largely underrepresented in areas such as computing, engineering and physics. A narrowing of academic experiences at school too often evolves into a narrowing of choices and career pathways, and restrictions on potential income in the future.

More broadly, gender stereotypical views can shape young people’s attitudes to relationships and may affect their mental wellbeing. Gender ideas permeate into issues of body image, sexual behaviours including
issues of consent etc.

What can schools do? It is tempting to feel that by secondary school age it is too late – that behaviours and attitudes are ingrained. However, the impact of a school ethos should not be underestimated. Schools can be pro-active in recognising that there are inherent barriers to all young people
accessing the same opportunities. Schools are also well placed to encourage young people to recognise the external influences that affect those seemingly independent choices. While young people should not be coerced into making any particular decisions, adopting the attitude that young people are able to choose whatever they want for themselves will not counteract the problem.

Establishing a whole school approach to gender balance in secondary schools is inevitably complicated. Students see several teachers in a day and as they move up the school they select different subjects. It is difficult to establish an overview of the individual student experience. School leadership teams will need to plan carefully to ensure all students are exposed to opportunities to identify and challenge gender stereotypes, and to reflect on how they impact on their own choices and opportunities. 

Useful links

• Just Like a Child, Zero Tolerance: a guide to preventing gender stereotyping in the early years
• Breaking the Mould, National Union of Teachers: Resources to counteract gender stereotypes in early learning and primary settings
• Let Toys be Toys: a campaign to stop limiting children’s interests by promoting some toys and books as only suitable for girls, and others only for boys
• Closing Doors, Institute of Physics: a statistical study exploring the links between gender and
  subject choice
• Career Education Standard: Education Scotland guidance on embedding employability skills in 3-18 learning (with a focus on equality and diversity)