This week I took the opportunity to attend an informative and enlightening Athena event called ‘Boys don’t cry and girls wear pink’.
The theme was stereotypes and although the title suggests gender stereotyping the speakers demonstrated that it impacts us all and can be found across all walks of life. They covered mental health and age stereotyping using some personal, heartfelt and compelling examples.
The sessions also created the opportunity to connect and network with colleagues across Carnival UK as the room was full and led to some interesting and challenging discussions from diverse perspectives on each of the tables.
The great thing about the events that Athena run is that they make you think and reflect by raising levels of awareness across a wide range of topics. This led me to do some of my own research…
Findings from the Children’s Society, ‘The Good Childhood Report’, concluded that stereotyping has a clear impact on young people’s wellbeing. It was found that children who’s friendship group emphasises traditional gender roles have lower levels of wellbeing than others. In contrast children who chose the relatively gender neutral trait, ‘working hard at school’ as the most important attribute have the highest levels of wellbeing. So, why should this be any different in adulthood and the workplace?
My take out?
We can all immediately make a positive step away from subconscious stereotyping by simply changing some of our language.
Next time you make an observation or statement by using what we believe are every-day phrases you may be, without meaning to, being dismissive or reinforcing a stereotype. So, take a moment to stop and think of the impact you may be having on a colleague, a friend, or a loved one.