Be What You Want
The Be What You Want campaign is designed to raise awareness of gender stereotyping and occupational segregation, in the context of subject and career choice, among children and young people.
The campaign aims to ensure that children and young people are not limited in their expectations and can make informed decisions about their future based on their passions, skills and talent, and not on gender stereotypes. In doing so we hope that this campaign will challenge the link between gender stereotyping and the types of jobs seen as ‘women’s work’ and ‘men’s work’.
The school environment is the ideal space to challenge gender stereotyping from an early age, and support young people to make informed decisions about courses, training and employment. This will help tackle occupational segregation which will in turn have a long term economic and social benefit for Scotland.
You can access our free resources, including a Teacher’s Resource which has classroom activities on gender stereotyping and career discussions, using the links below. If you’d like us to visit your school to deliver free classroom sessions to your pupils, please get in touch with us at info@closethegap.org.uk, or via our Twitter @closethepaygap.
Resources
Zero Tolerance, Just Like A Child
This guide to preventing gender stereotyping in the early years is aimed at childcare professionals who work directly with very young children, and who are in contact with their parents and carers
Pink Stinks is a campaign that targets the products, media and marketing that prescribe heavily stereotyped and limiting roles to young girls.
Let Toys Be Toys is a campaign which asks the toy and publishing industries to stop limiting children’s interests by promoting some toys and books as only suitable for girls, and others only for boys.
