The project- Challenging Gender Stereotypes- began as a simple idea, to both measure and raise awareness about Gender Stereotypes amongst young teenagers by means of workshops, proposed by two final year students from Delhi University- Richa Bhatt and Asmita Pandey- under the mentorship of Mr. Rishi Kant, Social Activist, Shakti Vahini. The project was presented as part of a weeklong leadership workshop, namely, Bridging the Gap: Social Action Lab, organized by Katradi and Us Consulate Kolkata from 4th to 8th February 2019. The project was selected amongst few others towards the end of the workshop, consequently the two facilitators, Asmita Pandey and Richa Bhatt were granted a micro –grant to run the project in New Delhi from February 2019 to June 2019.

1. THE PROJECT- CHALLENGING GENDER STEREOTYPES- BEGAN
AS A SIMPLE IDEA, TO BOTH MEASURE AND RAISE AWARENESS
ABOUT GENDER STEREOTYPES AMONGST YOUNG TEENAGERS
BY MEANS OF WORKSHOPS, PROPOSED BY TWO FINAL YEAR
STUDENTS FROM DELHI UNIVERSITY- ASMITA PANDEY AND
RICHA BHATT- UNDER THE MENTORSHIP OF MR. RISHI KANT,
SOCIAL ACTIVIST, SHAKTI VAHINI. THE PROJECT WAS
PRESENTED AS PART OF A WEEKLONG LEADERSHIP
WORKSHOP, NAMELY, BRIDGING THE GAP: SOCIAL ACTION LAB,
ORGANIZED BY KATRADI AND US CONSULATE KOLKATA FROM
4TH TO 8TH FEBRUARY 2019. THE PROJECT WAS SELECTED
AMONGST FEW OTHERS TOWARDS THE END OF THE
WORKSHOP, CONSEQUENTLY THE TWO FACILITATORS, ASMITA
PANDEY AND RICHA BHATT WERE GRANTED A MICRO –GRANT
TO RUN THE PROJECT IN NEW DELHI.
Challenging Gender
Stereotypes
Project In Action
The first two workshops in a private school were conducted amongst Class 8 students (divided into groups of 25 each) in Frank
Anthony Public School on 25th February, 2019. Likewise, two initial workshops in a Government school were organised with a
similar goups in the Sarvodaya Co-Ed Senior Secondary School, Masjid Moth, New Delhi on 23rd April 2019.
After a few ice breaking exercises, an activity of asking the students to draw and name particular characters was initiated as the
first gender stereotype related interaction with both the Government and Private school students. While most did express a male
bias towards characters like bike-riders, police officers and fire-fighters, some didn’t. To contest this, instances of the breaking of
essentialized gender roles were illustrated. The crucial difference between sex and gender was pointed out and the erroneous
practice of gender-essentializing behaviours was exposed.
To ensure they remain cautious of such stereotyping, children of the private school were also shown problematic depictions of
gendered behaviour in movies (such as Marvel superhero movies or Disney Princess movies), cartoons (such as Doraemon or Tom
and Jerry) and advertisements (such as the Pulsar bike ad). On the other hand the students of the Government school were only in
engaged in conversations around depictions in cartoons.
From the initial set of workshops 9 students from the Frank Anthony Public School and 11 students from Sarvodaya Co-Ed Senior
Secondary School (Masjid Moth) were selected for Focussed Group Discussions (FGD), which gave us better insights into what
better mechanisms could be used to engage with the students of the concerned age group. In this session the students of both the
schools were first involved in some role playing exercises, which were then used by the facilitators to highlight the importance of
inside and outside spheres in strengthening gender stereotypes. Following this the students shared instances of having
experienced Gender stereotypes in their own lives. The session closed with the screening of certain clips from films which depicted
the stereotypical representations produced in the media and a discussion with the students around the same.
From these sessions the facilitators learnt that while the students understood the day to day aspects and implications of Gender
Stereotypes, they were still not familiar with the more grave or violent implications of the conditioning that Gender Stereotypes
subject the people to. Hence the students who were selected for FGDs were now guided by the facilitators to perform some small
skits depicting cases of eve teasing and the kind of responses that follow from the people. Such representations were used to get
the students to discuss about the potential treatment and solutions with response to such situations.

2. ONE FOR ALL AND ALL FOR
ONE
Gender stereotypes
E q u a l i t y d o e s n o t d i s c r i m i n a t e
B e t w e e n a w o m a n o r a m a n
T h e q u e e r o n e ’ s f a t e
I s n o t f o r t h e S u p r e m e P o w e r
T o c a l c u l a t e .
T h e r e i s a n e e d t o e d u c a t e :
B e i n g b o r n a s a g i r l
A n d n o t a b o y , d o e s n ’ t m a k e y o u
i n a d e q u a t e
B e i n g q u e e r i s n a t u r a l
I t ’ s n o t a j o k e o r i l l n e s s , s o d o n o t
h u m i l i a t e .
W e m u s t c o n t e m p l a t e a n d
q u e s t i o n
W h y t h e q u e e r i s n o t a l l o w e d t o
p r o c r e a t e
T h e y a l s o c a n ’ t m a r r y a n d p a r e n t ,
L e s t t h e y c o n t a m i n a t e .
A c c e p t , d o n ’ t d i f f e r e n t i a t e
L e t h e r r a c e , w e a r i n g s p i k e s
O r l e a d h e r s e l f i n a c o r p o r a t e
S h e c a n c h o o s e t o m a r r y o r n o t
O r c e l e b r a t e h e r s a m e - g e n d e r
m a t e .
R e c o g n i s e t h e t a l e n t s t h a t ’ s
h i d d e n i n s i d e
W h y s t a r e a t h e r a s s e t s o r l a u g h
a t h e r ?
E q u a l p a y f o r e q u a l e f f o r t s
S h o u l d b e a b a s i c m a n d a t e .
V i c t o r y i s a s t a t e m e n t ,
R e d u c e d t o s l a v e s t a t e
T h e s a m e o l d t r a d i t i o n s a n d
c u s t o m s
A l s o m a k e y o u s u f f o c a t e .
I t ’ s t i m e t o e m b r a c e a n d l i b e r a t e ,
a r e n ’ t w e a l l ,
J u s t a s ‘ q u e e r ’ a s w e a r e s t r a i g h t ?
D i t c h t h e b i n a r y - a d o p t t h e
p l u r a l ,
L e t u s g i v e o u r g e n d e r n o r m s a n
u p d a t e .
W e w o n ’ t y i e l d , s o d o n ’ t d o m i n a t e
W e a r e u n i f i e d a g a i n s t o p p r e s s i o n .
W e w o n ’ t l e t y o u m a n i p u l a t e
T h e y a l l h a v e o n e a i m
T h a t s o o n s h a l l d i s i n t e g r a t e .
I s h i k a B h a r a d w a j
The community always expects
us to have a certain type of
behavior and the behavior is
based on gender. For example,
men are supposed to go to
work while women are
supposed to take care of the
home and children. These
characteristics have become
common in the society. Rather
than combating stereotypes,
our society reinforces
stereotypes by passing them to
the next generation.
Negative stereotypes hinder
people’s ability to complete
their goals by limiting choices
and opportunities. They
translate into social evils and
harm women. Men also suffer
because conforming to
masculine roles of competitive
and ambitious self-seeking can
force them to get rid of their
joys that can come from
parenting and having intimate
relationships. Conversely,
correct representation of
women should be done in
media. They should enter in
male dominated fields.
Stereotypes need to be tackled
in numerous areas namely in
languages and vocabulary,
laws and practices, mindsets,
justice systems, media and
education, different
organizations and public
authorities and in individuals.
- Sharon Kumar

3. Gender stereotype
YAY OR NAY? >
Gender stereotypes
We are all divided by genders before we are even
born. At a younger age itself, boys are not allowed
to play with dolls, kitchen items, teddy bears, etc.
and girls are not allowed to play with remote
control cars and aero planes. But this should not
be the case. There should be equality.
Stereotypes limit both girls and boys. It is often
necessary for girls to be good at cleaning, cooking,
dancing, etc. On the other hand, it is necessary for
boys that they should be strong and brave and not
cry. It is believed that women are worse managers
than men. They cannot handle things while boys
are believed to be good at them. This has a bad
effect on their career growth. Girls are not believed
to be strong and brave. But this is not true. Kiran
Bedi is the first female IPS officer, while Alisha
Abdullah is the first female superbike racer in
India. Both of them have proved the power of
women.
But girls are not the only one affected by gender
stereotypes. Boys are often teased for not being
‘strong’ and ‘brave’. If a boy cries, then his friend
would say, “Why are you crying, are you a girl?” or
“Do not cry like girls.” It is believed that boys can’t
dance. If some boys want to dance and are really
very good at dancing, the society laughs at them.
But it should not be like that, they should be
encouraged. Brijmohan Mishra, popularly known as
Pandit Birju Maharaj, has got many awards for his
classical dance. Boys are also thought to be not
good at art but this is not true. Leonardo da Vinci
was a very good artist and his paintings ‘Mona Lisa’
and ‘The Last Supper’ are still very famous.
These unfair beliefs and ideas that girls are not
strong and brave and boys can’t draw, sing and
dance are not created by a particular person but
believed by the society. This society has no right to
suggest a particular person to act according to it.
The people living in this society are not bad but
the thoughts about making a particular person act
according to them is wrong. Boys should be
allowed to dance, sing and express themselves.
Girls should be allowed to do hard work, go out
and work overnight and be independent to do
anything. Both boys and girls should be allowed to
show their skills. Boys and girls are equal and
should be given equal opportunities and rights. If
we don’t differentiate between them, they will
come forward to show their skills. They have the
only fear that the society will laugh at them and
make fun of them. This fear should not be there.
-Mansi Yadav
I am starting this with a story which
motivated me to write this.There was
once a boy whose name is Ram, who was
not very good in studies. At the last day of
school when I came for parents and
teachers meeting, he was standing in front
of me. We had to choose a subject for our
further studies, and Ram’s father chose
computer science and physical education.
The teacher explained to him his scores do
not match the requirement for computer
and advised his father to tick against
commerce, but he didn’t agree to it. When
the teacher suggested him of taking up
home-science, his father told his teacher
that his son is not a girl who would cook
food.
This incident made me very sad. Our
society tells us all this nonsense and
makes up things that are based on
stereotypes.People should be given equal
rights.They should not believe in made-up
things like stereotypes.
I can give you a few examples. Every third
person is a fan of marvel. In Avengers,
there is a strong female Avenger named
“Black Widow” who thus, promotes the
idea of girl power among us. . Many people
watch men’s cricket but the sad reality is
that they don’t know that women’s cricket
exists. The reason for this is that the
stereotype “Women can’t play cricket” is
prevalent in the society. On the contrary,
in case of fashion designing and dancing,
people can’t think of anyone but women
and girls practicing these professions. But
the fact of the matter is that there are
various men who are renowned dancers,
singers and fashion designers. Manish
Malhotra is a fashion designer, Vidyut
Jamwal is a model and Prabhu Deva is a
dancer.
To sum up, I just want to say that boys and
girls are not limited to a particular
profession, and we must change
stereotypes that say this.
-Rohan Kapur

4. GENDER STEREOTYPEGENDER STEREOTYPE
Gender stereotypes is one of severe issues in
our modern society. The society claims that
there are equal opportunities for both men
and women, but when in reality, men are
given more preference than women. Men
are often viewed as superior to women. Men
have dominated in history; they have been
our famous theorists and physicists, they
have won wars and conquered land.
Although our spiritual and mythological
beliefs considered females as deities, we
ourselves have failed to identify her as
human first. It is so sad that the biological
difference in a human being can change the
importance and rights he/she can have..
If a boy plays kho-kho, he is questioned by
the society--why is he playing a girl’s game?
Women cook in their houses but when it
comes to cooking outside their houses
professionally i.e. in a restaurant or cafe, the
women are not allowed to do that. Women
sweep and mop their houses but the
sweepers who sweep outside are usually
male. Why is there this kind of
discrimination? We must realize that there
is no work that is specifically made for any
gender. Like a man can perform classical
dance, similarly a woman can also play
cricket. Pandit Birju Maharaj, a very well-
known dancer, Kiran Bedi, a retired Indian
police officer, and Rani Lakshmibai, a great
freedom fighter are all examples that prove
this.
Gender equality is the unfinished business
of the 21st century. It’s high time now to
change our mental thinking. We are the
ones who can open our doors wide to
change our social thinking. For full-fledged
gender equality, both men and women must
work together and bring a positive change
in society. They should throw away their
gender stereotypes.
-Tonmoy Mukherjee
Throughout history, humans have always been
expected to act and follow a certain way
depending on their sex. These societal
expectations are called gender roles and segregate
us and build pressures to create pre-written
goals.There are many stereotypes laid upon us
primarily due to one another’s sex but what should
be taken into consideration more often is that sex
and gender have two completely different
meanings.Sex is determined by the organ we are
born with, whereas gender is what we socially
identify as. Gender roles and expectations begin to
develop before a child is out of the womb.
A gender stereotype is a narrow way of thinking
about how men and women are obliged to behave.
Roles and positions are appointed to men and
women passed on by generations of stereotypical
thinkers. As young children, we are influenced by
all means of media, society and our elders. Some of
these gender roles and stereotypes have been
created due to the difference in physique, thinking,
personality and behaviour. Physical differences are
more visible to the eye due to the distinction
between sex characteristics.
There are numerous ways how common gender
stereotypes reach our mind: televisions and movie
theatres tend to show gender-based content and
lay out a foundation of roles per gender which
people get inspired from. Advertisements play a
great mode in segregating items per gender, they
often display colours blue and pink as a boy’s and
girl’s colour respectively. Even children’s content
such as cartoons, games, storybooks, etc., tend to
describe the roles of a female and male. Such
information may not mean much to us if we’re
young, but as we think about the stereotypes they
portray in media, we understand how it affects our
mindset.
In order to tackle these gender stereotypes forced
upon us by society, we must educate the masses
from children to the elderly. Introducing
programmes for the concept of developing a
“growth mindset” instead of a “fixed mindset”.
Encouraging society to accept and understand the
equality of all genders by creating more media and
multi-cultural activities, which have a positive
impact on us and influence each other by support
can also help. Developing more associations to be
co-ed and reminding society about numerous
public figures today who overcome these
stereotypes as setbacks and reach their goal of
achievement can change fixed mindsets in
communities.
-Sambhavi Thakur

5. FROM THE
STUDENTS..
Shradul- “As a boy, even if I want to I
won't be able to cook at home because of
stereotypes.”
Vanshika- “Even parents don't support girls
when facing harassment, how can they be
expected to speak up?”
Abhishek- “Saying no is important when
one faces sexual abuse, even if it's from a
relative.”
Diksha- Every girl is not the same-- I was
the first one to start playing football in my
colony

6. W H Y E V E R Y O N E I S
D O I N G Y O G A , A N D
Y O U S H O U L D T O O
According to Wikipedia, a
newsletter is a regularly
distributed publication that is
generally about one main topic
of interest to its subscribers.
Newspapers and leaflets are
types of newsletters. For
example, newsletters are
distributed at schools to inform
parents about things that
happen in that school.
Newsletters are published by
clubs, churches, societies,
associations, and businesses
—especially companies—to
provide information of interest
to members, customers, or
employees.
According to Wikipedia, a
newsletter is a regularly
distributed publication that is
generally about one main topic
of interest to its subscribers.
Newspapers and leaflets are
types of newsletters.
For example, newsletters are
distributed at schools to inform
parents about things that
happen in that school.
Group 1
Sarvodaya Co-Ed Senior
Secondary School, 1st Workshop
Group 2
The Frank Anthony Public School,
Final Workshop
Group 2
Sarvodaya Co-Ed Senior
Secondary School, Ist Workshop
Group 1
The Frank Anthony Public School,
Final Workshop
CREDITS
Facilitators:-
Richa Bhatt
Asmita Pandey
Project Mentor:-
Mr. Rishi Kant
Content Credits:-
All the creative
Content in the
newsletter has been
contributed by the
students who had
participated in the
workshops.
Content Editing:-
Tinka Dubey
Photograhy:-
Subhashani Kant
Abhishek
Eshwin
Newsletter Design &
Editing:-
Diya Bhatt
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