Gender Stereotype And Stigma In School: How Do We Break Free?

Coming from a progressive school, I have been shielded from the brutal reality of sexism and the rampant discrimination that floods India as a nation. In a manner, certain aspects of this prejudice have been ingrained into our society, such that despite being seen as ‘open minded’ and unbiased a lot of the time I have found myself facing traces of this discriminatory mindset. I’ve been alive for 15 years, which isn't a lot of time to judge a society as a whole after having only interacted with a selected set of people, nevertheless, I can still see places where I’ve been discriminated against, or I’ve seen others face this inequity and favouritism.

When we were in the second grade the teachers would ask for some ‘strong boys’ to help lift the chairs to the other room and I remember being confused as to why I hadn't been asked to help, I knew I could carry a lot more than some of them. When we went to a camp in the 5th grade and a group of unknown children joined our class on the campsite all the boys stepped out of the tents to seem ‘intimidating’ and the rest of us sat inside, scared and confused for no apparent reason. In the sixth grade when we had to select what sports we wanted to continue with for the next two years all the boys chose football and cricket, sports that would be played in the outdoor sun and required physical exertion while a majority of the girls picked basketball, thinking it wouldn’t ask as much of us. It's these little experiences and actions that so many of us have experienced from such young age that builds the gender-biased mindset.

Dealing with Gender Stereotype And Stigma In School

Every single Disney princess story, where the prince comes to rescue the damsel in distress, every single time you’re told to wear a dress while the boys wear suits, every single time your classmate makes even a slightly homophobic joke, it all works to reinforce this stereotype and the stigma that will remain prevalent even in a place that so many people refer to as a second home.

Picture Credit: The Conversation

Just this year during a psychology assignment one of the questions asked was how comfortable they would be coming out in school, and what their reaction would be if their best friend came out as a queer person. A majority of their responses were as expected, but some of them surprised me. One person admitted to having been homophobic in the past as a result of the societal conditioning that had been imposed upon them, but after having had their classmates come out and having teachers who were a part of the community they had warmed up to the idea over time and felt their mindset had changed. At that very moment, after they told me this, I was overcome with emotion. The fact that even after having one idea and one frame of mind thrown at you your entire life, people are still able to think for themselves and open up their hearts to those around them made me so happy and so hopeful about the fact that one day we can break through all these walls of homophobia and sexism.

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As someone who’s been encouraged to think for themselves their entire life, I have, quite honestly, looked down on people who don't. I suppose I’ve always assumed people have control over their thoughts and what they consider to be right and wrong, however, the reality does not match my idealistic and blind assumptions. In a way, my mindset in itself is one of blind privilege, the fact that every time someone doesn't share the same level of what I call my ‘open-mindedness’ I immediately belittle them in my brain and push them down, not even once considering the world that they have been exposed to, what they have been taught. This is something that makes schools such an incredible medium to learn about others and learn about society as a whole, being exposed to so many different mindsets and rather than learning academically, learning about others.

Breaking out of set mindsets is one thing, but it is more important to break one's mindset of the world around them. Being more accepting of those around you and gaining empathy to understand and be conscious of what others have been through is probably the only way we can break these stereotypes and advance towards this utopia of a truly ‘open mind’, be it at school or home.

 The views expressed are the author's own.