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Lesson Overview
Students will identify ways in which sexism manifests in personal and institutional beliefs, behaviors, use of language and policies. They then will develop strategies to challenge sexism in their personal lives, in the school or in the community.
Note: Teachers can easily adapt this lesson to address other forms of bias.
Materials
Handout 1: Diagramming Sexism
Handout 2: A Plan of Action
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Diagramming Sexism
Begin the lesson by writing the following definition of sexism on the board:
Sexism: prejudicial attitudes and discrimination against women on the basis of their sex. Sexism ranges from the individual to the institutional level and includes (a) beliefs, (b) behaviors, (c) use of language and (d) policies reflecting and conveying a pervasive view that women are inferior.
-- Linguist Phil Herbst
Distribute the Diagramming Sexism handout. Ask students for examples of sexism in individual beliefs, behaviors and use of language. Also ask for an institutional policy that advances sexism. What are some sexist beliefs that students have heard peers, parents, teachers or others express? How do these attitudes sometimes manifest in someone’s behavior? How do these sexist attitudes come alive in language? What types of policies do institutions (schools, health insurance companies, law enforcement agencies, the government, corporations) have that advance sexism?
(Note: If time allows, students also can identify individual policies and institutional beliefs, behaviors and use of language that manifest or advance sexism.)
In case students need some help getting started, prepare your own list of sexism illustrations. To follow are some suggestions.
Individual Beliefs
Men are smarter than women.
It’s O.K. if male students act up in class, because, as the saying goes, "boys will be boys."
Individual Behaviors
A teacher calls on male students more often than he or she calls on female students.
Domestic violence: e.g., "A husband justifies his use of physical force to settle a domestic dispute by asserting that he is 'the head of the family.'"
Individual Use of Language
Sexist slurs, jokes or verbal expressions: e.g., "A male supervisor comments consistently about the appearance of female staff."
A teacher phrases historical information in a way that suggests women are property or are otherwise not equal to men: e.g., "A slave could not claim his wife or children as his own, because the laws did not recognize slave marriages."
Institutional Policy
A school uses textbooks that ignore or minimize the contributions of women.
Police departments sometimes treat instances of domestic violence as "family disputes" and not as crimes.
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