Ten years ago, a simple classroom experiment revealed how early job stereotypes can form. Children aged five to seven were asked to draw a firefighter, a surgeon and a fighter pilot. Out of 66 drawings, 61 were men and only five were women.
The children were then asked if they would like to meet the people they had drawn. When three women doing those jobs walked into the classroom in uniform – the children gasped.
That reaction was captured, and became the stand-out moment in our 2 minute Redraw the Balance film, which we launched in 2016 to coincide with International Women’s Day.
Watch the original film
A classroom moment that travelled the world
Since its release, Redraw the Balance has been viewed more than 100 million times worldwide.
The film struck a chord because it captured something simple and powerful: children can form ideas about “men’s jobs” and “women’s jobs” at a very young age.
It has been widely shared and referenced internationally, including by organisations such as the United Nations, OECD, UNESCO and the World Economic Forum. Versions of the classroom exercise have also been recreated in countries including Denmark, China, Canada, South Africa… and now Italy.
One simple way to challenge stereotypes about jobs
A proven way to challenge the ingrained stereotypical views children often have about the jobs people do based on their gender, ethnicity and socio-economic background, is to give them the opportunity to meet – and interact – with the people actually doing those jobs.
Over the past decade we have created more than five million opportunities where young people meet volunteers from the world of work through our programmes.
We make this happen by connecting schools with our over 90,000 amazing volunteers from a wide range of careers and backgrounds who talk freely about their work and career journeys – including their challenges and what the job is ‘really like’.
These experiences help children question assumptions about who does which jobs.
A global study of children’s career aspirations
The response to Redraw the Balance led us to explore children’s career aspirations on a much larger scale.
This resulted in Drawing the Future, a global study involving 20,000 children across 20 countries. Children were asked to draw the jobs they hoped to do when they grew up and who influenced their choices.
The research showed that gender stereotyping about jobs begins early and is a global phenomenon, not just something seen in the UK.
The work continues with detailed studies being carried out with Governments in different countries worldwide.
A new Redraw the Balance version from Italy
Ten years on, the idea behind Redraw the Balance continues to travel.
Published today is a new version created in Italy which reproduces the same classroom experiment, and produces very similar results and powerful reactions from the children.
Credit to ADi, Associazione Docenti e Dirigenti scolastici Italiani – the Italian Teachers Association.
Help challenge stereotypes about jobs
There are different ways you can make a difference:
- Volunteer to share your career story with students – find out more about volunteering as a role model.
- Encourage your organisation to support children in schools local to you, or in underprivileged areas
- Register your school and connect directly with volunteers from the world of work straight away; and get support from our team and free resources to make planning and delivery easy.
Everything you do with us enables young people to see beyond stereotypes and discover the many different careers open to them.
For queries, contact enquiries@inspiringthefuture.org