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Teacher instructions

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 - 20 minutes

Tune in: Strike for change

20 minutes

Find out: Gender stereotypes in action

20 minutes

Take action: How can we challenge gender stereotypes

5 minutes

Reflection

Tune in: Strike for change

Prep: If you completed the previous lesson, Respect, Empathy and Fair Play, you can skip this section and go straight to step 1

Introduce the Matildas by watching the Squad Announcement.

MATILDAS SQUAD ANNOUNCED: FIFA Women's World Cup 2023™ - Football Australia (youtube.com/watch?v=OhSIElULmeA)

Step 1.

After watching the announcement lead a see, think, wonder discussion with the students using the following questions:

What did you see the team talking about in this video?
What challenges do you think they faced in getting to the world cup?
What do you want to know about the team? What are you wondering about?

Step 2.

Read through the Why Did the Matildas Strike? Factsheet. Discuss as a class: Was this situation fair? Why? You might like to consider the following:

what would you expect a national sports team to have provided for them? (uniforms, insurance, flights, accommodation, team doctors, training grounds, equipment, etc.)
the differences in pay and conditions between the women's and men’s teams
the popularity of women's vs men’s soccer
what do you know about the history of the sport?

Be prepared for some robust discussion! When it comes to the topic of what is fair and what isn’t, people can have strong opinions. It might help to take notes of key points from this discussion to return to later.

Step 3.

Returning to what we have learnt about Australia’s National Football teams, fill out the conditions table on the Student Worksheet. Students may need to refer to the Why Did the Matildas Strike? Factsheet.

Step 4.

How did this come about?

Complete a Think, Pair, Share activity with your students to see if they can come up with a reason WHY there were such unequal conditions between the men's and women's teams. Share these ideas as a class.

Step 5.

Share the History of Australian Women's Football Slide Deck with your students. After working through the slide deck, ask students to rethink: What were some contributing factors to the unequal conditions? These might include:

the UK Football Federation effectively banning women’s football after World War II, and the flow on effect to other countries.
the 1922 medical report recommending football to be unsuitable for girls
the perception of women who played football in Australia (butch, tomboys, lesbians etc.).
the portrayal of female footballers in media
the slow restart of women’s football around the world
limited resources being directed to established men’s teams rather than trying to build up new women’s teams.

Find out: Gender stereotypes in action

Step 1.

From the English Football Association’s ban on women playing football, a gender stereotype was created. A gender stereotype is the idea that certain characteristics or attributes belong to just boys or just girls. Let’s look at some of the newspaper articles released after the ban.

What image do these newspaper articles paint of women footballers? Identify keywords or phrases here, such as:

Unsuitable
“Ultra-masculine type of girl”
“Untoward scene”
“Sensible girls will welcome the decision.”

Step 2.

Are there any gender stereotypes that we hold? Let’s think about things that are considered typically male or typically female. Students can either fill out the table on the Student Worksheet or complete this activity as a whole class.

Step 3.

Let’s look at the impact these stereotypes can have on us. Choose one or two clips from the list below for the students to watch.

Note: When choosing your clips from this list, be mindful of your students and their situations. Some of these examples might hit close to home for some students. That’s not always a bad thing, but you need to be aware of what might make your particular students feel vulnerable and what support they need. You don’t need to use a specific example if it is too tough a topic for right now, but some of these clips may spark discussion relevant to students and their current situations.

Lara Pigatin by Elle UK (elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/culture/longform/a42141/a-girls-game-football/) First video

'Being a male ballet dancer' - Jakob Feyferlik - THEAVRAAMS (youtube.com/watch?v=Px25ohqWGcw)

Courtney Act answers kids' questions about gender | Little Kids Big Talk - ABC TV & iview (youtube.com/watch?v=3A792ZR6z68)

Facing the stigma of being a male Early Childcare Educator - Corey's Story - VisionCollegeNZ (youtube.com/watch?v=V7j6fOxY-L4)

Inspirational Stories of Men in Nursing - Australian College of Nursing (youtu.be/FzoeDBR_VoE)

Australian Olympic Boxer Harry Garside On Breaking Gender Stereotypes In Boxing - The Project (youtube.com/watch?v=yenfj-59U3c)

AFLW star Tayla Harris and her parents speak out about abuse and threats over photo | 7.30 - ABC News (Australia) (youtube.com/watch?v=2AFLW1tVmu4)

After watching each clip facilitate a discussion with the class using the following questions.

What gender stereotypes were discussed?
What was the impact of this stereotype?
Did the person in the video let these gender stereotypes stop them?

Now that we have looked at how gender stereotypes can influence people, pose the following question: Why should we challenge gender stereotypes? Some of the reasons may include:

to be inclusive
to empower people
to reducing bullying
to improve self-image
to create more opportunities.

You may want to capture these ideas to be displayed in the classroom and to be able to refer to them on an ongoing basis.

Take action: How can we challenge gender stereotypes?

Step 1.

There are lots of different ways we can challenge gender stereotypes. We’ve put a selection of videos below that encourage people to challenge gender stereotypes. Choose one or two to watch with your class and get inspired!

This Girl Can - Victoria - Vic Health (youtube.com/watch?v=iISKDZvjaSs)

This Girl Can – what about you? - The National Lottery (youtube.com/watch?v=jsP0W7-tEOc)

BOYS DO CRY - Boys Do Cry (youtube.com/watch?v=PMBNYRiBNT8)

A Place for You in Nursing, #MenInNursing - John Hopkins University School of Nursing (youtu.be/WikQz4J9B7U)

A Class That Turned Around Kids' Assumptions of Gender Roles! - Upworthy (youtube.com/watch?v=G3Aweo-74kY)

Step 2.

Let’s go back to our list of stereotypes. Choose one of the stereotypes you wrote down earlier that you want to change. How could you challenge this gender stereotype?

For example, if you play AFL and want to encourage more girls to play AFL, you could…

promote the girls' AFL team
help out with the girls' training
referee girls’ games
speak up when people use gender stereotypes against girls in AFL.

If you love drama and want to see more boys in the drama class, you could…

promote the drama club and encourage boys you know to join
speak up when people use gender stereotypes against boys in drama
put up posters of male role models in the drama rooms.

Have students share their idea with a partner. As a whole class, ask some students to share their favourite strategy from their partner's list.

These strategies can broadly be separated into:

As students share their partner’s ideas, identify which of these three strategies is being used.

Differentiation: For students who need support with this activity, focus on one particular stereotype and look at how role modelling, using your voice, and being an advocate can impact that one issue.

For students who need extension, nominate a stereotype that doesn’t directly impact them and ask them to not only look at strategies for addressing it but also to reflect on why it is important to be an advocate on issues that don’t directly impact you.

Reflection

We now have an opportunity to address gender stereotypes in our classroom. Over the coming days, there will be the opportunity to point out and address gender stereotypes as they arise in the classroom. There is also now the opportunity for students to follow up with the plans they have created to address gender stereotypes.

Differentiated Learning

Opportunities for differentiation have been included throughout this lesson.

Exploring Gender Stereotypes in Sport

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