Once upon a time - gender stereotypes (Turkey)

This is an activity about gender equality and the aim of the activity is to recognise stereotypical gender roles and characteristics in stories and everyday life, discuss traditional and non-traditional gender roles and encourage gender equality. In order to do this a well-known story is rewritten by reversing the male and female characters, like Cinderella by changing the characters; then they are asked if they noticed anything unusual in the story. Once all the children have understood the role reversals, it may be unnecessary to read the whole story or you may wish to jump to the conclusion. The story is discussed by asking questions. The children are asked to think of characteristics and activities that they consider typical of males and females in their everyday life. Their suggestions about stereotypical gender roles are listed. A chart is made  and the children are asked to record their observations of unusual behaviour, first in the story and then in real life.Two charts are compared and discussed by asking questions. The word stereotype is defined and examples are given. Through the chart of typical characteristics and activities, they were asked to determine which characteristics and activities are biological facts about men or women and which are beliefs, attitudes or stereotypes. When the children have understood the concept of stereotypes, the activity is debriefed by asking such questions:

> Ask the children if they can see any connection between gender stereotypes and human rights?

> Help them understand that everyone has a human right to be free from discrimination, including discrimination based on sex or gender stereotypes. 

>  Ask the children how they felt about the activity.