Fostering gender equity mindsets through inclusive learning environments by Apoorva Shetty

Fostering gender equity mindsets through inclusive learning environments Capstone Project by Apoorva Shetty M.Des Design led Innovation

PG CAPSTONE PROJECT 2019 | EXEGESIS STUDENT Apoorva Shetty

PROJECT Fostering gender equity mindsets through inclusive learning environments

PROGRAM Postgraduate Professional Program

AWARD Masters in Design (M.Des), Design led Innovation (DLI)

ÂŠ Copyrights 2019 Student Capstone 2019 Exegesis Publication (for private circulation only) All Rights Reserved PG Capstone 2019 Exegesis (Postgraduate Program) Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology Bangalore 560064 Karnataka

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Written, edited and designed by Apoorva Shetty Printed at Go Print, Bangalore

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY & PLAGIARISM STATEMENT I, APOORVA SHETTY, hereby declare that the content of this student PG Capstone Project 2019 Exegesis submission is my own original work and has not been plagiarised in full or part from previously published/designed/manufactured material or does not even contain substantial propositions of content which have been accepted for an award of any other degree or diploma of any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in this thesis project. I also declare that the intellectual content of this PG Capstone Project 2019 Exegesis is my own original work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design and conception or in style and presentation is acknowledged and that this exegesis (or part of it) will not be submitted as assessed work in any other academic course.

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT I, APOORVA SHETTY, hereby grant Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology the right to archive and to make available my PG Capstone Project Exegesis in whole or in part in the instituteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s data bank and website, and for non-commercial use in all forms of media, now and hereafter known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act.

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Contents Abstract Introduction Background Project context Theories adopted Methodology Literature review State of the Art Intent of the project Research questions Design Approach Phase I : Discover and Define Activity 1: Storytelling Activity 2: Card Sorting Activity 3: Recalling cards Phase 2: Explore Activity 4: When I grow up… Activity 5: My Map! Activity 6: What if…? Activity 7: Draw your classmate! Activity 8: Day in a Life! Activity 9: The Mystery Game Activity 10: Chit-Pick! Activity 11: Role of Media

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Parent Interviews Teacher Interviews Phase 3: Synthesis and Ideation Patterns Connecting the dots! Individual vs Collective Drivers of change Stakeholders Redefined Research Questions Ideation Prototyping & Testing Phase 4: Final Outputs System Design Overview Phase 1 The (un)boxing bias — Toolkit! Customer Journey Map Value Proposition Canvas Business Model Canvas Phase 5: Outcomes & Discussions Outcomes – Findings Discussion and Reflection Challenges Conclusion References

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PG CAPSTONE PROJECT 2019 | EXEGESIS STUDENT Apoorva Shetty

PROJECT Fostering gender equity mindsets through inclusive learning environments

PROGRAM Postgraduate Professional Program

AWARD Masters in Design (M.Des), Design led Innovation (DLI)

EXAMINER 1 Name Signature

Date

EXAMINER 2 Name Signature

Date

EXAMINER 3 Name Signature

Date

FINAL COMMENTS

I would like to thank my mentor Dr Sanjukta Ghosh for her guidance, support, constant push and motivation. I would also like to thank my facilitators Dr. Naveen Bagalkot, Kshama Nagaraj and Sudhir Desai for very generously making time in their busy schedules to listen to me, guide and encourage me to take risks and try new things. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to thank all the teachers, school staff, students from St Philomenaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Public School, the children and residents of Rajeshwari Manor, Bangalore who were very welcoming and encouraging throughout the visits. This project would not have been possible without them. Thanks to my friends and classmates at Srishti who would (note: voluntarily) engage in discussions which would be really motivating. To my family, thank you for your unconditional support and encouragement throughout the course of the project.

ABSTRACT

Gender is a complex, situated, and socially constructed facet of identity with far-reaching implications on growth and learning (AlSulaiman & Horn 2015). Although gender is the earliest learned aspect of oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life, this is generally neglected in early childhood. Several psychologists and behavioral scientists have argued for the need for interventions around gender in the period of early childhood. This project discusses the various methods used in understanding the influence of internal and external factors in shaping attitudes, behaviors and beliefs of children. The project stresses on the need for further studies which could aid the development of metrics and scales to measure and monitor stereotypes/bias. It also proposes ways to include stakeholders in dialogue and discussion at a systemic level rather than working in silos.

INTRODUCTION Since the dawn of the early human, we have always been foraging, hunting, eating, migrating in groups. This cooperation in groups also meant better chances of survival, food procurement and child rearing. Along with this culture of group living, came the added responsibility/need of having to fit in to the tribe, the need to be valued, to feel belonged and to be accepted by the tribe. This meant following the gender roles which were adopted and accepted by the tribe. So, what do we do when we don’t fit into our groups? How do we go against these dominant norms and assigned roles that become evaluators of our acceptance into the groups? The English Oxford Dictionary defines bias1 as an inclination or prejudice for or against one person or group, especially in a way considered to be unfair. The culture code in India plays a major role in creating stereotypes and iased behaviors. Our upbringing, cultural and traditional backgrounds strongly influence our world views.

1https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/bias

Information is used by people to perceive and understand norms. People tend to see the dominant norms as accepted or ‘desirable’ behaviors and follow them. While most our cultures and traditions were built on ideologies such as patriarchy, current norms also tend to follow the same. Upon exploring various biases that exist, gender seemed to be the most dominant factor. Gender is a complex, situated, and socially constructed facet of identity with far-reaching implications on growth and learning (AlSulaiman & Horn 2015). Several norms pertaining to gender are imbibed in us through our upbringing, childhood experiences, influence of family, friends, teachers, etc. People tend to restrict self-expression and stick to boxed definitions of gender to avoid marginalization, discrimination, public mockery and to feel belonged to their social groups. This boxed behavior has implications on both physical and mental wellbeing.

stage for future attitudes and behavior of adults and children. The motivation to ‘fit in’ influences the choices they make, the activities they engage in, their world views and how they treat others around them. This project takes a ‘Research through Design’ approach and refers to theories from psychology, humanities, behavioral sciences and design, to understand existing contexts and uncover social structures that contribute to children’s understanding of gender. Frameworks of gender, equity and play were used as references to design the proposed interventions. It is important to note that this project takes on the lens of Equity, which is not to be mistaken by Equality. This project intends to shed a light on gender, gender roles and stereotypes and highlight the criticality of this boxed and restricted understanding in shaping future attitudes and mindsets. It aims to create an opportunity/space for conversations around gender and the need for addressing this at an early age.

The focus on children emerged as a result of an understanding that early childhood sets the

BACKGROUND

Project Context

Methodology

Theories adopted

This section provides a detailed analysis of the research that formed the foundation of the project.

The project is set in an urban context and research was carried out in Bangalore, India. Teachers, parents and children in the age group of 9–11 years are the major participants of this project. The participants belonged to economic segments of lower middle class, middle class and upper middle class. The research findings may be specific to this group of people and thus it cannot be generalized to all children outside the context of the project.

This project took a ‘Research through Design’ approach. Various methods of design were used to understand the context, analyze the findings, synthesize and draw conclusions. Theories from psychology and humanities were implemented in the development of activities and games which were used to explore and find patterns. This helped to uncover systems and the structures which were supporting the working of the system. An exploratory path was taken for this project with a larger focus on research. The research methodologies were mostly participatory in nature involving techniques like ethnographic studies, participatory design and collaborative making. The participants of the project involved 26 children in the age group of 9-11, 5 teachers and 7 parents.

The following theories created a pathway for the research and also formed the foundation of the designed research activities. A range of theories has been established regarding gender bias and the assimilation of gender. Some of the theories which formed the basis for the research in this project will be discussed below. Contact hypothesis aka Intergroup Contact Theory: The theory states that under appropriate conditions interpersonal contact is one of the most effective ways to reduce prejudice between group members. This theory formed the basis of activities which were used to assess if additional awareness changed children’s mindsets or perspectives about gender. Gender Schema Theory: based on the idea that children form organized knowledge structures, or schemas, which are gender-related conceptions of themselves and others, and that these schema influence children’s thinking and behavior. (Martin et al. 2010).

Literature Review The English Oxford Dictionary defines bias as an inclination or prejudice for or against one person or group, especially in a way considered to be unfair. Biases are formed through opinions developed from information that comes from a wide range of sources – people, objects, media, etc. Gender bias was picked as the area of study, after exploring and understanding that gender- norms, roles and other governing structures drive individual and collective behaviors in India. The following sections consist of themes which have been derived from . Addressing the invisible Gender is a social construct that is deeply woven into our social structures. The exposure to gender and gender roles in early childhood could be potential triggers to future behaviors and mindsets. There exists ignorance in accepting the abilities of children in reflecting dominant social and cultural norms that produce more harm than good.

Contrary to popular belief, gender impacts several aspects of childhood – growth, development, conflicts and shaped future attitudes, decisions and mindsets. While interacting with social environments, children are constantly learning what is desirable and normal and creating structures and boxed categories for male and female. Assimilation of gender. Where does the motivation come from? As stated in the paper - From Pink Frilly Dresses to ‘One of the Boys’: A SocialCognitive Analysis of Gender Identity Development and Gender Bias, gender is the earliest and the most influential identities throughout the lifespan. As children understand themselves and their genders, there is an elevated sense of public regard which drives as motivation for children. The realization that appearance and behavior do not dictate one’s gender causes a less rigid outlook towards this. The authors of the paper - Children’s Search for Gender Cues Cognitive Perspectives on Gender Development say that - children’s’

understanding of gender in turn increases their motivation to involve in activities that other people in their gender groups are engaging in. The authors state that “Children are gender detectives who search for cues about gender—who should or should not engage in a particular activity, who can play with whom, and why girls and boys are different.” This constant drive to notice and absorb forms acceptable behaviors and expectations in the minds of young children. Children’s understanding of gender develops and transforms as they transition through the multiple stages of childhood. Learning, Consolidation and Flexibility strongly vary depending on age. Evidence suggests that gender stereotyping occurs in three phases. The first phase is when they learn about gender-related characteristics which occurs between 2-5 years of age. The second is when they consolidate the newly acquired knowledge in very rigid ways between 5-7 years of age. In the phase after the rigidity, is the period of relative flexibility. Since children between 8-12 can articu-late, express, emote better,

are more flexible in their understanding of gender and less reactive to nonnormative situations, this age group was chosen for the study.

Power of the collectives Social norms are powerful structures which drive individual and collective behaviors. When individuals form a part of a bigger group – a society or a community, their behaviors are driven from the need to fit in, feel belonged and accepted by the members of this group. In the paper - Social norms marketing aimed at gender-based violence: A literature review and critical assessment, the authors talk about the influence and power of social norms on an individual’s attitudes and behaviors.

Literature Review The authors state “Out of a need for belonging, individuals have a basic drive to ‘fit in’ with valued and relevant social groups and to avoid deviance from the standards of those groups.” They further state that “social norms function like actual laws and market incentives, but they are socially and informally enforced.” Any offenders of these norms are subjected to public shame, name-calling, exclusion, etc. Through the collective, individual members form perceptions about what is expected and desirable. When these perceptions are shifted, so do actual behaviors and attitudes. Social Psychology describes Pluralist Ignorance as a situation where majority members of a group privately reject a norm, but accept and follow it from the assumption that other members also accept it. This leads to a situation where no members of the group want to act or react with the belief that it is not what is expected or accepted, this is also known as The Bystander Effect. The authors also state that norms are necessary structures for the collectives to follow.

Role of Influencer In the paper - Stopping the Drama: Gendered Influence in a Network Field Experiment, Paluck and Shepherd talk about the role of the ‘social referent’ – individuals whose behaviors can be seen as references for the group to mirror. By leveraging these referents messages can be sent across to their groups which look up to them and tend to follow in their paths. Caregivers often understand their roles in the developmental stages of a child. However, their understanding of the role of gender in the lives of their children is mostly very skewed. Children as participants The common understanding of children is that they are incapable of saying what they think and feel, may exaggerate what they know, or they will stage a performance and go on a pretentious path. However, in the papers - Design Research by Proxy: using Children as Researchers to gain Contextual Knowledge about User Experience, Children as Co-Researchers: More than Just a Role-Play, the authors Fenne et al.

speak about the importance and effectiveness of engaging with children and assigning them roles of coresearchers. The authors also talk about the effectiveness of the research when in the place of adults, children themselves bring in their stories and experiences. Play as a medium Jeffrey Goldstein in his book - Play in children’s development, health and well-being, highlights the importance of integrating early childhood interventions in aspects of play. Through the act of play children pick up behaviors and also mirror behaviors which are considered as acceptable and expected. Through acts such as role play and enactment, children recreate situations that reflect their notions of the socio-cultural worlds they live in. Game design and gamification integrate the frameworks of play into their structures. B Howell in his paper – “You Design It- A Self Directed Design Workshop for Children” states that the design output is strongly influenced by the context or intent of the design. Thus, pro social behaviors are

influenced by games including roleplay and enactment whereas learning historical content is greatly enriched by games involving adventure or strategy. Scale for measurement The IAT (Implicit Association Test) measures attitudes and beliefs which maybe implicit in nature, meaning people may be unwilling or unable to report them. It also surfaces the attitudes and associations people possess that they were not previously aware of. Although this tool has been validated by many, there exists an ongoing debate about if understanding implicit associations through response time is valid or relevant. However, through research it was identified that there are no validated scales or methods for caregivers to measure and visualize the extent of bias/stereotypes or partial (impartial) inclination based on gender in children.

State of the Art A wide range of products and services have been developed by various organizations across the world. Teaching Tolerance provides educational materials to schools to be used as additional classroom materials that aid in creating inclusive school communities where children feel valued, safe and welcomed. The Gena Davis Institute on Gender in Media is working within the media entertainment industry to help content creators realize the long-term impacts eliminating gender bias, representation of gender roles in media. Show racism the red card one of UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s anti-racism educational charity, creates educational materials to be used by educators and parents. They also utilize the power of influencers from the football community to carry out campaigns to challenge racism. Psychologists like Betsy Levy Paluck are working in the areas of prejudice, discrimination in children by conducting longitudinal large-scale experiments in settings beyond their labs.

Frameworks The Irrelevant Project uses the medium of fiction to interrupt prejudice, biases and stereotypes in various learning environments while also helping children navigate instances of prejudice and biases. ALIGN (Advancing Learning and Innovation on Gender Norms) aims at bringing together various communities of researchers and world leaders in working towards challenging and changing harmful gender norms in the stages of progression from adolescent to adulthood. Many independent researchers, artists and designers are bringing up issues about biases and stereotypes by creating work in different mediums.

The Framework of Equity-Centered Community Design which was developed by the Creative Reaction Lab to provide people with a visual tool which helps to create a combination of multiple disciplines in the road to designing (for) equity. This was used to understand the context from a multidisciplinary point of view.

Image credits: Creative Reaction Lab

PROJECT INTENT

Research Questions

This project intends to shed a light on gender roles and stereotypes and highlight the criticality of this boxed and restricted understanding in shaping future attitudes and mindsets. It aims to create an opportunity/space for conversations around gender and the need for addressing this at an early age.

• Exploring the emergence of gender biases/ stereotypes through interactions with people, objects and spaces. • What is the influence of media and other communication mechanisms on the emergence of stereotypes in young children? • How can parents’ access, comprehend and consume the tools available on the Internet?

DESIGN APPROACH

Phase I â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Discover and Define In this phase several theories from child psychology and humanities were used to form the foundation through which the research activities were derived. This helped in understanding, validating and defining the context of the project. The research in this phase mainly consisted of activities like storytelling and card sorting methods to understand and uncover the existing mental models.

Phase III Synthesis and Ideation In this phase, the data collected from the research was collated to find patterns in the understanding of gender by various stakeholders. From these patterns, various factors which aided in the emergence or dismantling of biases were identified. This helped in framing research questions to drive the project. This was followed by ideation on possible approaches.

Phase II Exploration The previous phase set the ground work for further research. In this phase research revolved around understanding the external sources of bias like TV, Books, Internet, etc., influence of other stakeholders, childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ideas of justice, structural inequality, etc. Children were engaged in activities like sketching, discussing, enacting, etc. while other stakeholders like parents, teachers and neighbors were also interviewed in this process.

Phase IV - Output The ideas were tested with the users and taken forward based on the outcomes. A service- system was designed which included all stakeholders and the major institutes of learning and play. Emphasis has been laid on one phase of the project Phase V -Discussions and Reflection Reflecting on the previous phases helped find themes that could be of value to others working in this field. Gaps and challenges faced during the project has also been discussed.

PHASE - I Discover & Define In this phase, theories like Contact Hypothesis and Gender Schema Theory were adopted to form the foundation of several research activities to be conducted with the participants in the home and school.

The activities were embedded with aspects which helped study and understand the following: â&#x20AC;˘ Mental models of the children. â&#x20AC;˘ Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s categorization of characteristics, activities, spaces and objects. The research unfolded through a series of activities designed to assess their existing biases, stereotyping, categorization of traits, professions, abilities, likes-dislikes and understand their mental models in relation to masculinity and femininity and male or female. In Round 1, the designed activities were conducted with children between the ages of 9-11 years in a residential building in Banashankari, Bangalore.

Activity 1

Storytelling

Storytelling and different forms of media are inherently social practices which are already deeply sown into our existing social structures. (Paluck & Green 2009)

Objective:

How could we use storytelling as a medium to understand children’s assessment of gender with respect to traits, characteristics and occupations?

In this activity storytelling was used as a method to help children associate various characteristics and traits to the characters provided. This helped in understanding their schematic representations or categorizations of gender roles and capabilities.

Findings Execution: For this activity, children had to choose from a list of occupations, traits and behaviors and make a persona for both the male and female characters. A pilot conducted with older participants revealed that the colored cards with pink for scientist was too alarming for the participant. To avoid any such biases, the cards were all white in color and had words instead of images.

• Children associated the male and female characters to their mother and father and assigned characteristics accordingly. They assumed that the likes and dislikes of their parents could be generalized to other male and female members. • While picking occupations, male was associated with stereotypical professions like cricketer, doctor and the female with teacher, nurse or dancer. Children thought it was obvious that the female would be a teacher or a mother. “She’s pakka a teacher. That’s what girls like to do.” — said a 10-year-old boy. • When the options for occupations had stereotypes like teacher, doctor and cricketer, children would quickly choose these.

One of the participants chose scientist for the female, but quickly changed her mind. On trying to probe why she did that, her response was - “Simply I felt like”. Most children could not fully articulate the choices they had made. They often required a few nudges to help them analyze why they did it.

How can we teach children look beyond these stereotypical roles of a woman like mother teacher and nurse? How can we also imagine /re-imagine men beyond being strong, working hard and smart?

Participants using the cards to create stories for the boy and girl.

Activity 2

Image Sorting

Execution:

Findings

Male and female character cards were placed and the children were asked to place each image card into the male or female section. Image cards contained images of flowers, pan, fire, car, elephant, cat, toolbox, gun, butterfly, lion and an office building.

• Children strongly believed that categorization of characters meant they fell into specific categories and could not have any overlaps. This meant that women could be strong but not equally strong or stronger than men. On asking one of the kids if girls aren’t strong, his response to it was “Girls can also be strong, but boys have ultimate strength.” • While some characteristics were categorized and fit into sections, other associations happened with association with characteristics like strength, etc. On probing into why participants chose gun as a masculine trait, most children responded saying “Boys are strong so they use guns”. This was followed by a discussion on women in the army and police, to which his response was “But there are very few.” This phrase meant that majority of women aren’t in the army or police force because of their lack of capabilities rather than the lack of opportunities or social acceptance.

Objective: This activity was developed to understand children’s mental models of categorization of objects, traits, skills, abilities and professions in terms of masculine or feminine/ male and female.

Participants using the cards to create stories for the boy and girl.

Inadequacy does not involve individual behaviors but the social arrangements and institutions which influence the behavior of the system. (Suchman, 2002)

Activity 3

Memory Game!

Hidden Nudges!

Research claims that when children are shown images which do not fit into their ideas of the norm, children tend to exaggerate or make false claims when asked to recall these images. The objective of this activity was to validate this research.

Objective:

What happened when they were given facts that opposed their beliefs?

Execution

Findings

Children were shown 10–12 images of both stereotypes and non-stereotypes. Some of them included images of women in police uniforms, women driving auto rickshaws, men cooking, men doing ballet, etc. They were then asked to recall the images they saw.

• Children seemed to recall images which did not fit the stereotype quicker than the other images. One of the participants was fairly amused and when he saw photos which did not fit his perception of a certain gender — such as images of a women police, a lady rickshaw driver, etc. and seemed to recall them better. • While some participants would be amused with images which did not fit into the norm, such as images of a women police, a lady rickshaw driver, etc., others would simply have no reaction to them making it a challenge to assess what they felt about the images. • This hints that they are indeed open to having their assumptions changes/ challenged.

• One of the participants was very firm in what he believed fit and did not fit. On giving him stats about women who drove, he said- “I think you don’t know, you should Google it.” • The children strongly believed that children of their gender or the opposite gender could not defy these prominent traits — boys’ affinity to dangerous objects and girls’ affinity to soft and gentle things. On asking one of the participants why he thought girls like butterflies, his response to it was “I just know they do.” When a boy was told, that the researcher did not like butterflies, he exclaimed — “What! You

• The representations and categorizations were coming from what the children had noticed and observed from their closest circles — parents, neighbors and friends.

hate butterflies and you’re a girl. Are you sure you’re a girl?”

• While some children were amused when told about people who were in non-stereotypical professions others seemed to be unmoved by it. This raises the question, how would children respond to contradictory facts in the form of visual evidence (video, images, etc.) Or statistics?

While I was sitting in the play area and watching the kids in the apartment play, a few of them asked me to play along with them. On telling them I was too old for that game, one of the younger boys asked “Are you married?”. On asking why he asked me this question, he respond 27

Round 2 It was understood from Round 1 that children are very tricky to crack and some ways of probing and questioning did not work with all of them. Some activities had to be improvised on the spot to test the genuineness of their responses. This round was conducted in the school premises — St Philomena’s Public School, Banashankari, Bangalore. The activities in Round 2 were conducted with 20 students of age 9 -11. These sessions were conducted within the school setting individually with each student, outside their classrooms.

Findings The activities were conducted in a similar manner as mentioned in the earlier phase. As seen in the previous rounds, most students picked up stereotypical jobs and characteristics. However, a few instances are worth making a note of. • Professions involving dancing, cooking, etc. were seen as something which is tagged along with an actual mainstream job like a doctor, lawyer or an engineer and not as something to do in life and depend on to survive. The requirements of the profession in terms of capabilities were linked to it being relevant for male/ female members. Ex: Careers like nursing which required people to be caring, gentle and happy were associated to mothers/female, Carpenters, doctors which require being strong and smart was linked to father/male. •Objects were associated with masculine or feminine based on their functionality, usage and characteristics. For instance, since butterfly was beautiful and an elephant was cute, it was associated to the girl.

The images of fire and gun were associated to male since they were dangerous and ‘a boy could withstand fire’. However, most students associated fire to female since fire is necessary to cook. The toolbox was associated to a man because of its complex usage that only a man was capable enough to use. The illustrated characters were judged based on how they looked — “she looks beautiful, he looks strong”. • TV seemed to play a major role and came up several times during the conversations. “I watch dance shows on TV and dance, they talk about cars like Ferrari on TV, I saw many policemen with big guns on TV”. It also influenced their perceptions of male and female traits. They used mediums like Google to learn about their favorite actors, DIY craft, etc.

• Children who liked activities such as dancing were told by parents to aim to become a software engineer or a doctor. “I like dancing, but my father wants me to become a software engineer… Actually, I also like software engineer.” On asking the child if he knew what a software engineer does, he was not aware of it. However, the student went on to narrate the story of his cousin who had married a software engineer. Visions of parents often overpower the small aspirations in the minds of children.

A participant using the word cards to make a story

The patterns discovered from Phase 1 were mapped to understand the connections and the influencers.

PHASE - II Explore In Phase I it was observed that children are more open and at ease in groups of 2 or more, instead of having individual 1–1 discussion. The next set of activities were designed keeping this in mind.

In this phase, activities were designed to encourage dialogue and discussions based on gender, trace and understand the sources of biased feelings or comments and also understand their perception of themselves — capabilities and strengths with respect to that of others. The activities in this Phase were conducted with a group of students from the apartment and a group of students from the school. The set of students remained the same for the next phases.

Activity 4

When I grow up..

Objective:

Findings

The objective of this activity was to capture how children portrayed themselves in certain professions and how they represented members of the opposite sex in similar or different professions. This was achieved by asking them questions like... What do you think is different in what you drew and what was drawn by your friend? Why do you think your friend drew it differently?.

• Children found it difficult to portray roles which were non-normative for a certain gender. A girl who wanted to be a scientist and a fashion designer drew a male scientist and a female designer. On asking why, she said — “I don’t know how to draw a girl scientist!” • A participant who wanted to be a doctor drew a first aid kit next to her portrait, but drew a hospital and an ambulance for the male participant’s portrait. On asking her why she had nothing to say. The representation could have meant that she allocated more resources or responsibilities to the male doctor than to the female doctor. • One participant drew her and her partner in the same clothes (A Doctor’s coat) but different hairstyles. However, the boy had drawn different clothes for the girl — a skirt! He had also drawn himself as the ‘Main Doctor’ and the girl as the other doctor who helped him.

Execution Children were shown 10–12 images of both stereotypes and non-stereotypes. Some of them included images of women in police uniforms, women driving auto rickshaws, men cooking, men doing ballet, etc. They were then asked to recall the images they saw.

Seen in the images are children drawing and comparing drawings.

Activity 5

My Map!

Objective:

Findings:

The objective of this activity was to find out spaces’ children were engaging with and the people who were a part of these spaces. Through this activity, children mapped out where they had heard people say things that could be biased. This was also done to understand whether children would be able to relate and understand the context when they were given relevant examples of situations involving gender bias.

• It was a challenge to make them understand what exactly I was looking for. Although it was explained to them through examples, care had to be taken to not lead them to answers or making up scenarios. A lot of questions came up before and during this session - How can they narrate instances that were probably considered normal in their everyday life? Would they even recollect such instances? But they did! • Some children would just continue writing as if it were a ‘Who writes on more sticky notes?’ competition. • When asked about why they thought adults were saying these things, children said it was for their own good, health, safety, etc.

Execution: This activity was executed in 3 steps. Step 1- Mapping out their neighborhoods: Children were asked to map out where they lived. The shops, houses, etc. they came across on an everyday basis.

Things they had heard:

Step 2–Discussing and writing the gender-based comments: They were now asked to think about all the instances when they were told not to do something because they were a girl/boy. Step 3: Locating where they came from by placing the sticky notes in appropriate spaces on the map.

“Girls always serve coffee” “Girls are quiet, boys are always shouting” “Don’t cry, are you a girl?” “Girls should learn to cook!” “Parents love girls more than boys” “Girls shouldn’t go into party halls!” Seen in the images are children mapping their neighborhood, followed by writing things they had heard people say.

Activity 6

What if?

Objective:

Findings:

The objective behind this What If.. activity was to get them to draw or narrate stories from imagination. It was also aimed to understand how they thought of gender/sex and what they thought the absence of male/female labels would be.

• Children drew monkeys, apes and aliens. “If there are no boys or girls there will be people without faces.” “They will be aliens” “They will all be monkeys. Because before becoming humans, we were all monkeys”! • To children, boys and girls meant people. If people did not exist, we would be in our pre-evolution phase which is as monkeys or apes. • It is interesting to note that children did not distinguish animals – monkeys and apes into male or female like they did for human. The inability to distinguish based on external factors could have contributed to this.

Execution: Children were asked — “What would the world look like if there were no boys or girls, only human beings?”. They were then asked to either discuss or draw it out on paper.

Seen in the images are drawings depicting aliens and monkeys.

Activity 7

Draw your classmate!

Objective:

Findings:

The objective of this activity was to observe how they collaborate and work with a member of the opposite sex and come to an understanding/agreement about the varied features of the characters they were going to portray.

â&#x20AC;˘ Preference of seeking services from same gendered groups. Children preferred to be team up with their own gender groups. â&#x20AC;˘ The effort put to collaborate and take decisions with the team member varied from child to child. The members of one group were collaboratively drawing, taking turns to draw, deciding on colors, shapes of eyes, hair, etc., others would either be submissive and give up or be dominant and take over the activity entirely.

Execution: For this activity, four students were divided into groups of two. Each group had to collaboratively work together in picking one of the careers that the other group members wanted to pursue. They had to then collaboratively discuss and draw it out.

Seen in the images are children drawing and critiquing other drawings

Activity 8

Day in a life!

Execution

Findings

This activity was done individually with each student. They were asked to draw their daily life; what they did from the time they woke up until they went to sleep. While they were drawing, they would be asked questions to dig deeper into small nuances from everyday life.

• Domestic work was associated to the mother, followed by sisters, children and then the fathers. The mothers seemed to play a major role and was a part of all their representations. • When asked about what they were good at, most boys would say — sports, games, reading, etc. and the girls would say — Rangoli, cooking, studying, singing, etc. This was often conflicting with what they would say they loved to do. This was the case even if the girls seemed to love sports and boys — dancing. • Outside the school, children played games like Hopscotch, hide and seek, robber-police, volleyball, running games, etc. Although children played in mixed groups outside the school, after a certain age, school segregated them into sections comprising of either only boys or only girls. • The notion of ‘fashion’ meant different things to them. According to one participant, carrying cartoon themed tiffin boxes and constantly bragging about it meant being fashionable. Another participant mentioned that to her fashion meant wearing nice clothes and applying makeup.

Objective: To understand the daily routines of the children, involvement of caregivers, friends and media. To find hidden elements from everyday life which could provide new insights.

• Children had categorized themselves into things boys do and things girls do! Boys were associated with being naughty, mischievous and girls were associated with being talkative and fashionable.

Seen in the images above are a child drawing a day in his life

Activity 9

The Mystery Game

Execution :

Findings:

A group of 6 children were made to sit in a circle and given roles — doctors, police, game masters. The plot of the story was told to them and assigned roles accordingly. The game masters would give them clues and facilitate the investigation accordingly.

• Boys were always the main suspects for the crime. So much that the girl was not checked for evidence. • Boys/bold girls would get to play the roles of a male character. Girls would always be asked to play the role mild, decent and well-behaved characters. • Although children took time to get a hang of the dynamics of the activity, they were quick to pick up and took their roles very seriously. This involved impromptu dialogue, cross questioning the actors and sticking to the characteristics possessed by their roles.

Plot of the game: One of the doctors had stolen some expensive solutions from the hospital lab. The police had to carry out an investigation to catch the culprit. The doctor stole the inflammable red solution which leaves stain on the hands of whoever touches the jar. As the story proceeds, clues are given to the police and the final clue leads them to check the hands of the doctors for solution stains.

Participant passing a sentence to the criminal

Objective: Understand their ability to reason, think critically, negotiate and their sense of social justice.

FIR being written with list of suspects and fingerprints.

Activity 10 Objective:

Findings

This activity was done to bring out children’s perspectives on multiple factors like into more specific questions like… What jobs do you think only boys can do? What are the games that can be played by both girls and boys?

• A lot of thinking was involved in when it came to discussing things that can be done by both boys and girls (jobs and games). The discussion finally ended in a conclusive statement that both girls and boys could be whatever they wanted to be. The children arrived at this conclusion after a 10-minute heated discussion about what was possible and what was not. • Children would engage in more critical thinking and debates in groups and would oppose or agree with other kids without hesitation. However, when asked to reflect on the scenario and voice their opinions, they would be hesitant and try to evade the question. • Children were very accepting to information which challenged their assumptions when the information came in the form of facts like..I know a girl who build buildings, “My friends sister goes to Karate classes.” • Unlike how they had categorized during the initial card sorting activities, children now seemed to have a new developed sense of social justice. When a boy called girls weak and cry babies, he was shut down by another girl.

Execution: A group of kids were given scenarios and had to pick up chits for particular scenarios. The chits had a variety of questions like if they thought the scenario was OK, their opinions on it, how would they tackle such a scenario and their assumptions of why it had happened.

Pick chits!

Boy: Only a girl can’t climb tall hills. Me: Have you heard of Bachendri Pal? *Explains who she is* Boy: Ohhh. Then they can’t climb buildings. I saw a video of one boy climbing buildings with his bare hands. Boy 2: If they can climb mountains then they can definitely climb buildings. How can we create products/spaces/ opportunities/nudges for children to debate/discuss and engage in constructive criticism about gender? How can facts be used to create new perspectives in children or to show them alternate realities which differ from their idea of reality/real or ideal world?

Activity 11

Role of Media

Objective:

Findings

This activity was conducted to find patterns in their exposure to cartoons, the games they played, etc. and to also slip in questions which led to situations with conflicting assumptions or understandings.

• During the sessions, children sat in their default groups – a group of girls and a group of boys. Boys preferred to not sit with the girls and the girls claimed they preferred to sit with girls since boys would get very aggressive – ‘rough’. • There was a stark difference in the cartoons and television shows they watched. However, there was an overlap in some shows like Tom and Jerry, etc. Could it be because they were animals? • Children were not exposed to the members of the other group enough to know about their likes and dislikes. When they came across instances that did not fit the stereotypes, questions like “How come these girls don’t like Barbies? How come they didn’t say pink” would often come up. The girls would then respond…”Who told you everyone likes it? “All girls don’t like pink”, etc. • It was seen that conversations (clashes with their assumptions) were most effective in groups with relevant members rather than studying/learning in a classroom setup.

Execution: Children (5 boys and 5 girls) were made to be seated in a circle. They were given paper and sketch pens and asked to pick their favorite cartoon, draw and write about what the cartoon was, what they liked about it and what they disliked about it.

This goes on to prove that, the many experiences children have in classrooms with both boys and girls, influence and broaden their perspectives of the varied capabilities, skills and similarities with those of the opposite sex.

Excerpts from interviews with parents. 46

Parent Interviews The interviews conducted with the parents of children between 9-11 years were analyzed and the following themes were derived from them.

“But this is what everyone does!” “No one else is doing this. Wouldn’t’ it be weird if I was the only one trying to change?”

The right or wrong battle Parents struggle between knowing what’s right or wrong when it comes to Parenting. Parents need to understand that small steps they take a home, small changes the make in how they distribute chores at home, etc. can play a huge role in changing the mindsets of people at home. “I’m open to know and learn about the ways to talk and tackle this at home. But I don’t know what to do. What’s right and what is wrong?” “I don’t even know if what I’m doing is right. Parenting is a gamble!” “I was thinking about this thing, but I did not know what it exactly was until someone sent me a video about it.”

External influencers The parents constantly stressed on the influence of other social structures like school, friends, TV, Media, etc. in shaping children’s ideas about gender. Below are some excerpts from parents on this. The neighbors keep talking about their hyper boys and the well-behaved girls. My family structure does not fit into the norm, but my kids are very biased towards colors and toys that are appropriate for their gender groups. “We try and keep things neutral, but we have no control over what happens in school.” “My daughters mingle with older girls who teach them that they need to be these ‘typical girls’ “My daughter is the one expressing concern when I raise my voice or laugh loudly in public spaces.” “I didn’t buy my daughter any dolls, I got her building blocks. One day she insisted that she wanted a Barbie with pink clothes and a pink house.”

Societal pressure The need to fit in and feel belonged to the community steers many beliefs and attitudes. They also expressed the lack of support from others would increase the challenges involved in practicing change in the home or outside.

“I’m always doing outdoor activities like volunteering, trekking, etc. This causes other kids to question my kids about who will take care of them if I’m always away. When my kids misbehave and create a ruckus while playing, the other mothers blame it on my (the mother’s) absence in the house.” Contradicting statements While some parents believed and were confident about their gender-neutral ways of upbringing, it was evident that there existed discrepancies between what they felt and what they said. They would often contradict neutrality and would say statements like these below: “My husband allows me to do whatever I want to.” “I’m so lucky my husband helps me!” Need to meet children’s expectations Parents feel the need to ‘show’ their capabilities to their children. “I feel like I was not able to prove myself/ portray my strength and capabilities to my son.” “My son thinks I cannot keep the family safe like his father.”

Optimism or Ignorance? A few parents could not get a sense of the criticality of the situation. They would look back at their upbringing and assume that things would eventually change with time. “I think things have changed from when we were kids. My brother never did nay work back then, but now I see him helping his wife in the house.” “I think my son likes pink but he pretends to hate it and doesn’t wear his pink clothes.” “Its different from one generation to another. It’ll change with time.” “My elder daughter turned out fine even though we didn’t know about all this back then.” Experiences Parents believe that experiences contribute to how children take on new perspectives about gender and expectations. This goes on to show that parent think its out of their control to fix or change their perspectives. “My kids were surprised when they realized that their father could stitch buttons and I could not.”

Excerpts from interviews with teachers. 48

Teacher Interviews It was observed through the interviews and interactions with the teachers that there were certain ways - of referring, of addressing, etc. which was constantly surfacing. The themes which were derived from thee conversations will be discussed here.

Language of referring

Expectations

Teachers would often resort to using stereotypical ways of addressing girls and boys. Although this was happening unintentionally, it would also put pressure on children to be a certain way in order to be like and accepted in the school.

Teachers were not fully aware of the impact of their words on limiting opportunities for kids to experiment and explore in life. When they were categorizing skills and capabilities, they were also setting expectations which were required to be met. Even though some of these expectations perpetuated negative situation, it was considered normal and inevitable due to biological differences. This could support negative attitudes and situations like bullying or harassment in the classroom.

“You should take to these boys; they are very smart, funny, naughty and entertaining.” “These girls are very intelligent, hard-working and silent”

“Girls are naturally very competitive with other girls” “At a certain age the boys become very aggressive” “Girls are easier to handle than boys.” “Girls are expected to not talk loudly. Or they get scolded by the HM.” “Girls prefer to sit with other girls. Sometimes their parents come to school and ask us to segregate girls and boys.” “During the age where they have hormonal changes, its best to keep them separate from the other.”

PHASE - III Synthesis & Ideation

In this phase, the data collected from the research was collated to find patterns in the understanding of gender by various stakeholders. From these patterns, various factors which aided in the emergence or dismantling of biases were identified. This helped in framing research questions to drive the project. This was followed by ideation which were validated and taken forward based on their viability, feasibility and desirability.

Pattern mapping The research helped to uncover several patterns in how the stakeholdersâ&#x20AC;&#x160;â&#x20AC;&#x201D;â&#x20AC;&#x160;adults and children perceived gender and its relations.

Mapping data gathered

Themes derived Categories: Many aspects of everyday life were categorized into male and female. This included spaces, jobs, colors, traits and characteristics, games, etc. This causes people to try and force fit themselves into their own categories out of the fear of being shamed, teased and excluded. Media: Television and other forms of media seemed to be a major part of their everyday lives. Channels like Chintu TV, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Pogo were the major kids’ channels. Children also watched movies with their family. Movie references came up several times during the interviews. Engagement: When it came to activities and involvement, children were very excited with group work. Although they had been very shy and unresponsive in the one on one activities, they would often debate and critique each other in groups. It also helped them counter the assumptions made by other kids or themselves.

Expectations: Adults and children had set expectations depending on male or female. The expectations also gave rise to assumptions of what people were capable of doing and achieving based on their biological sex. Ex: A mother who is generally kind, caring and gentle can take up roles as a nurse or a teacher, however the strong and responsible father could be a successful doctor, builder, cricketer. This also meant that parents and children adopt mindsets which could lead them into following archetypal patterns that have been governed by gender roles set from the early days of human kind. Experiences: The past experiences and present lifestyles of children played a huge role in how they perceived gender. They were noticing and absorbing behaviors and characteristics from the people in their closest circles – parents, siblings, family and friends. The lack of varied or diverse experiences or the limited knowledge could also learn to forming stereotypes or assumptions.

Flexibility: The flexibility of children to believing and accepting norms or non-normative scenarios was assessed by analyzing their reactions to these situations. Two major factors that were considered here was children’s flexibility to anti-normative roles in professions and their reactions to everyday situations where other children would engage in activities which are considered ‘not normal’ for their gender. It turned out that children were more open and accepting when it came to professions but were not so accepting to behaviors of other children who did not follow the norms. Language usage: Children and adults often had categorized behaviors and traits to boys and girls and would expect the same from them. References like naughty boy, talkative girls, boys and their vehicles, girls and their dolls would often be used by participants.

Connecting the dots While gender is one of the most neglected dimensions in the lives of children, several factors are constantly feeding into their beliefs and understanding of gender. Interventions which are systemic in nature require thorough inspection of all the interconnected elements. Merely fixing the issue at a superficial level will cause no impact unless it is equipped with ways for stakeholders to navigate and challenge the complexities involved. Fighting back systems which are so deeply rooted in our social structures could cause several unintended consequences.

Design theorist Horst Rittel defined wicked problems as: unique, having potential to be described in multiple ways, often a symptom of another problem, and lacking a clear rule for stopping work or testing a solution.

Representation of interlinking and connections 54

Individual Vs Collectives As members of a society and community, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re often bound by structures that limit our freedom to act, think and express. These collective structures drive individual attitudes and beliefs. As seen in the image, the child is at the center of this unit and the other units constantly re-enforce information which could confirm or conflict existing beliefs.

Mapping external influences

Drivers of Change The research phases helped identify patterns and factors that had the ability to make or break rigid and boxed structures, change behaviors and attitudes of the caregivers and children. These factors can be leveraged and used to design interventions which would help them work towards creating more inclusive environments.

Factors of influence

Designing behaviors While working towards designing for behavior change, it is necessary to keep in mind that change or the adoption of change does not happen overnight. The behavioral scientist BJ Fogg stresses on the need to adopt changes that seem familiar, that eventually lead to behavior change. In his Behavior model, he argues that one needs to have behavior and motivation to be triggered by an external force to take up the change in behavior. This means that rather than designing for outcomes, there is a need to design for the behaviors that lead to the outcomes. This was used to understand how changes can be integrated into everyday lives, while making them seem small and easy to implement, but also not making them seem irrelevant and negligible.

BJ Fogg Behavior Model

Stakeholders Bias or stereotypes is not a one person issue, but it involves the passing on and mirroring of the values, attitudes and beliefs of several stakeholders who may not always be in the obvious picture.

How do we equip stakeholders to navigate this? How can one or a group of individuals create new stereotypes for the society to fall back upon? Stakeholder Mapping

Research Questions The synthesis helped to formulate a new set of research questions. The following phases were guided by these research questions.

• How can caregivers recognize their roles in shaping the future mindsets? • How can we help parents and children find archetypal patterns in everyday lives that could be stereotypes? • Who are the deviants? How can we use them as role models to translate into possible approaches? • How can people themselves design to navigate and challenge existing social customs and norms? • How can we help caregivers along with children, work towards possible, preferable or probable futures?

These questions led to another How many different approaches can we identify to tackle this?

The mapping represents several approaches to tackling the situation at hand. 60

Ideation The research questions helped to drive the initial rounds of ideation. The following concepts were used as foundation for ideas generation. • Embedded Design Method: Using indirect means of putting across pro social messages without directly communicating the underlying intent of the game. • Play as a medium: Using play and mechanisms like role play and enactment to stage situations and voice opinions about various issues. • Games in the form of Probes: Using games as a method to probe into issues which were considered irrelevant or unnecessary to be discussed. • Games to promote inclusion, collaboration, critical and constructive thinking.

During the research, a few commonly occurring patterns raised concerns about the validity and genuineness of the interviews with the adults and the testimonies made by them. The statements they would make were often contradictory and the use of language in referring to children (boys and girls) or in addressing them gave a clear-cut perspective of what they felt and how they categorized accepted behaviors, skills and expectations from the children. Parents: While parents would be up for involving themselves in the growth, learning of their children, they often think that there are ways to do parenting and they are unaware of the ‘right’ methods to do so. However, parents blame TV, peers in schools, school teachers and media as primary influences of stereotyping and developing preferences in children or sometimes deny that they or their children are biased.

Teachers Children spend a major part of their days in school and often look up to teachers as role models. The teacher forms a major part of the child’s life. Different values, ideologies and perspectives are passed on from the teacher to the children. School teachers in India are most often bogged down with academic and administrative work that teaching goes from being a learning and engaging experience to ‘just a job’. Children| Peers Children are very quick to pick up things happening around them on a daily basis. They are constantly imitating the actions and words of adults and peers around them. With this overload of information in their lives, they’re often faced with conflicting views, opinions and beliefs.

Ideation

Prototyping & Testing The prototypes were mainly structured based on the following objectives: 1. To help parents uncover patterns in childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s understanding of activities, games and behaviors. 2. A tool to help children discuss and talk about gender in everyday settings

Participant sorting the word cards with her parent.

Words for all! Objective: The objective was to help the parents find patterns in how children structured activities, household chores, games, traits, etc. This could create a space where parents and children together discuss, debate and address assumptions that could be stereotypes. Execution: One of the initial activities that was used to understand the mental models of the children was refined to be used by the parent and child together. A set of cards containing traits, characteristics, activities, games, etc. had to be categorized by the parent and the child (collaboratively) into sections of — Boys, Girls and a new category - Both.

Findings • Parents nudges regarding children’s assumptions often came from people or places of familiarity. • Familiarity was used by parents as a method to bash assumptions and create newer understanding. Ex: When a girl put skating in the male section, her mother said: “You know Namratha akka? She plays football”. This meant children could related to examples from their closest circles of socialization — family, friends, etc. far better than examples of world-renowned people whose names they had probably never heard of in their lives and made it seem like jargon. There were people who could be considered as ‘deviants’ within their social circles. • From this lens, parents could form the structures that help children connect the unconnected aspects of their lives. • Unlike the previous times, this time, along with boy and girl an additional option was given for categorization — both. This opened up a space for parents and children to talk and discover possible overlaps in the patterns.

Seen in the images is a child sorting cards with her mother’s assistance

Actor-Reactor Objective:

Findings

The objective of the game was to understand if children were able to determine the underlying objectives of the game, especially one that was based on gender, gender roles and power.

• This activity helped the children who were otherwise the perpetrators of gender bias to be on the victim’s side of the story. • What was really interesting was that after the 2 rounds of enactment, the children insisted that they would script, rehearse and enact a story created by themselves. • This led to them creating and enacting a scene where a girl who was watching Ben 10 gets teased and bullied. This causes her to fight for herself. This was followed by a mediator who tries to calm the situation but fails to. The enactment ended with them reciting the moral of the story — “Everyone can watch anything. There is no channel which was only made for boys or only made for girls. This is all man made.” • Here it was observed that children quickly grasp and learn from things around. They had understood the motive behind the previous enactment and had created a new story from it. If given themes, children are able to form new situations or reflect on past situations related to it. This also goes on to show that children are indeed very receptive and aware of gender biases in daily life.

Execution Children were given scenarios to enact. The activity consisted of actors and Reactive Detectives. The actors would act out scenarios and improvise on them, while the Reactive Detectives would try to find faults in the acting and also react using the reaction cards. The reaction cards consisted of reactions like — ‘Hahaha’, ‘making angry faces’, ‘crying’, ‘feeling sad’, etc. The scenarios had subtle signs of stereotyping and children were asked if they were able to crack the moral of the story.

Seen in the images are children using the cards to practice and enact.

PHASE - IV Final Outputs In this phase, the ideas tested in the previous phase were taken forward and refined based on the outcomes. A service-system was designed which included all the identified stakeholders and the major institutes of learning and play. This was followed by mapping out various aspects that make the system â&#x20AC;&#x201C; values, offerings, sustainability, input and feedback.

The System! The system operates in 3 major phases as shown in the image. These phases are designed while keeping in mind the need for the system to be evolving and cyclic in nature.

As the African proverb goes - â&#x20AC;&#x153;it takes a village to raise a child.â&#x20AC;? Interventions focused on children, or child development need to consider all the stakeholders in the childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life, in order to foresee any possible systemic breakdowns or unintended consequences.

System Map

Overview! Phase 1 – Home

Phase 2: School

This is the phase of initiation when the service comes into play. This phase requires participation of the parent and child. In this phase, the toolkit is introduced to the family. The toolkit consists of basic information on the parent-child activity, information about how to cope with biases and a game that can be played in groups. The objective of those toolkit other to equip caregivers with skills to navigate or address gender bias. On considering factors like feasibility, viability and desirability, parents were chosen to be the kick starters of the project. (Details of the phase will be discussed in the coming stage.)

In this phase the service will target school level interventions. Due to constraints like time and resources in school level interventions, the planning of this phase will start alongside with Phase 1. However, implementation will be done in Phase 2. This phase will include: • Teacher training modules Teachers are often seen by children as role models and are they respect and look up to. These modules will include basic learning of the assimilation of gender in children, the roles of teachers in shaping behaviors, self-assessment of how classroom sessions are conducted. • Peer-peer activity planning After the teacher training, teachers will possess the skills to address and plan activities which would bring children in line with the changes made at home. This will include planning small activities like mixed game play, discussions, visits to places with varied groups of children, introducing mixed learning sessions in the classroom, etc.

Phase 3: Community • Evaluation and assessment The teacher has a bigger sphere of influence and can thus monitor, measure and compare inclinations in the classroom. While doing so, the school as a whole will be able to analyze and influence behaviors on a mass scale. This will also provide them a holistic perspective of the situation in hand, which could help in planning and implementing new school level strategies.

In this phase spaces of learning, socialization and play like – school, dance classes, etc. will act as platforms to build networks. The networks will act as a supporting structures for caregivers who can learn, discuss and motivate each other. • Providing an online/offline platform for parents to reach out and extend/receive help from other parents. • The platform could be integrated with physical spaces of play, learning and socialization. These spaces include current spaces where children and caregivers gather to learn, develop skills or socialize. • By involving in community level programs, parents will feel a sense of acceptance and belonging which would not be the case if they have to fight the battle alone.

Phase 1 The Home! This project focuses on Phase 1 of the system. This phase is targeted for the home â&#x20AC;&#x201C; parents and children. This was chosen after carefully analyzing the feasibility, viability and desirability of engaging in other spaces or platforms like school, etc. Since the previous research proves that parents are more involved in the lives of their children and are willing to take small steps toward neutrality, it was decided to kickstart with parents. The Toolkit is the physical touch point in this phase of the service.

System Map

[un]boxing bias - The Toolkit Design it yourself!

This toolkit is designed to be a Designit-Yourself kit! It equips caregivers with tools to discover archetypal patterns in childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s usage of language, engagement in game and activities, assumptions and expectations based on gender, which could prove as indicators in determining the degree to which the assumptions and value systems vary when compared to that of the caregiver. Factors that are used as determinants of being biased or stereotyping a particular individual or a group of people: Language used in various settings, activities that children engage in.

Contents of the Toolkit

Contents of the Toolkit 1) Manual for adults The manual contains basic information regarding gender, objectives and procedure of the games, ways to nudge children and small steps to take at home and in the community.

The manual of the toolkit

2) Wordsss - The game! This is a word game which intends to help caregivers visualize the gendered categorizations of traits, characteristics, activities and games which form a major part of the day to day lives of children. The game is first played by the adult to understand their own gender schema. This is followed by the adult and child collaboratively structuring the cards based on what they think it fits in. Through this the adults are asked to provide nudges to children when they make certain choices like – “Why do you think football is for boys”? Etc. It was observed during research that parents or any familiar adult could provide better examples of people who were considered as deviants (engaged in activities or games which did not fit into the common perception of ‘norms’) which resonated better with children than having to read about famous personalities they had never heard of before.

Word cards to be placed into categories

3) Detective Reactive This is a game which to be designed by children themselves. The objective of this game is to create a space for children to engage in creative and dramatic expressions through role-playing various scenarios from daily life. Here children take on multiple positive and negative roles, react to scenarios and collaboratively design and strategize ways to address (react to) these situations. This game was derived from the research findings after understanding that children are capable of understanding from examples and relating it to their lives. In this game, children would take on multiple roles that helped them step into shoes of children/people with different mindsets. This way they would voice opinions which would otherwise not be accepted or welcome by other group members. This could also help them prepare themselves for unforeseen future scenarios.

Detective Reactive, game manual for children.

Elements of game design were referred to create a foundation for the game. The elements considered were: - Dynamics of the game: The game has several actors who have to collaboratively work for the game to function. - Elements of the game: Different elements of the game include-cards, manual or game guide, cards to react, etc. - Mechanism: While the game involves multiple actors enacting different scenarios, the essences of the game is around role-playing. - Goal: An understanding of the scenario and its relevance/moral is what the children need to look out for.

Customer Journey Map The Customer Journey map helps to visualize the various stakeholder and their interactions in the first Phase of the system - with the Toolkit. Here the Toolkit acts as a bridge between the service, service providers and the families of many children. The map also shows the outcome that it has on stakeholders after each step of the process. The different stakeholders in this phase include - Service providers - Parents or other caregivers - Children

The flow of using the Toolkit

Value Proposition Canvas

While long term outcomes could slowly change behaviors, systems will neither adopt or adapt if the stakeholders do not see value in it. Value systems vary from person to person and from community to community. Hence it becomes a challenge to create value across the whole system.

Value Proposition Canvas for the proposed system

Business Model Canvas

The Business Model canvas helps to visualize how the system interacts with various stakeholders through different channels and modes of engagement. A system will thrive if it is validated in terms of viability, feasibility, desirability and sustainability.

Business Model Canvas for the proposed system

PHASE - V Outcomes & Discussions

This phase consists of reflecting on the previous phases and discussion of themes that could be of value to others working in this field. Gaps and challenges faced during the project has also been discussed.

OUTCOME Children who were shy in the initial sessions of the research, slowly overcame their fear and started to engage and involve themselves in conversations. On probing or providing nudges, children would open up and speak of varied topics of interest. This would contradict our basic assumptions of children and their inability to understand or engage in topics that are considered ‘sensitive’. Several factors like experiences, exposure, the lack of knowledge impacts how children think about others around them. When children were told stories of other people in situations beyond the norms, they would often be amused and surprised. Further, children who were involved in the activities during the research seemed to have developed an enhanced sense of justice. This was seen in its and bits in the conversations that were had.

Parents engaged in conversations about topics like gender- the flexibility in the roles of the mother and the father without any criteria to fit into existing structures. In the process, parents realized their roles in passing on values to their children. Their assumption that they had to make difficult choices to practice change, broken when they realized how they could contribute by making small changes in their everyday lives. The Toolkit, helps to open up conversations and discussions about stereotypes and archetypal patterns that people have unintentionally fallen prey to. Through witnessing children’s and perceptions using the games, parents begin to acknowledge the influence of gender in their lives and the lives of their children. This would be the first step in deriving motivation to take small steps as an individual with various roles in the home, neighborhood and the society.

The project also acts as a means for caregivers to realize their roles – as parents, friends, teachers, family members, etc. in shaping future attitudes and mindsets. As the famous African proverb goes – It takes a village to raise a child.” The project aims to help children grow up in environments that foster equity and a well-developed sense of social justice, equity and morale. This could make way to acceptance and openness to differences which could stop potential bullying and teasing. By engaging or involving in these small interventions at home and school, we could send out a message that everyone is capable of doing anything they wish to irrespective of their biological sex.

DISCUSSION & REFLECTION The project helped to uncover several themes and scope for future work. Lack of measurement scales There exists a major gap or the lack of tools for caregivers to visualize the biases in themselves and their children. The IAT (as mentioned earlier) seems to be the only scale available to measure gender biases. However, a lot of ongoing debate is seen about the authenticity of this scale. There is a great scope for development of new scales of measurement and monitoring, and interventions to help caregivers measure and monitor biases in children in order to get them on board to working towards a similar vision. “We’ve learnt about gender in English class” While engaging with children to understand and uncover nuances about niche topics like gender, alternate methods can be considered. It is also necessary to engage with children who are able to (to some extent) respond with what they know/ do not know. Contrary to popular belief, children can

actually grasp topics like gender, when put across in relevant and relatable ways. This makes it a challenge to embed these aspects in the research activities. When children realize the underlying motives of the research activity, there could arise the possibility of them staging a performance to please the researcher. Children as equals and not mere ‘participants’ Through the course of the project, it was observed that children are more receptive when treated as equals rather than as younger (not-so-mature) participants. This made them realize that their experiences, opinions and stories were being valued. However, this was challenging in the initial school visits since every outsider was addressed as “Ma’am/ Sir” which would immediately establish a hierarchy. The most challenging aspect was to understand what it is that children really felt? When given situations or while having discussions, children would initially react with negative comments or giggles. This would be followed by very

contradictory sentences like — “Anyone can do whatever they want to”. This helped to realize that their reactions were primary indicators of their reactions or responses to situations. This meant having to conduct sessions and read their body language and reactions simultaneously. “But everyone does it” Before deep-diving into social systems, it is necessary to understand the cultural, traditional and social structures that drive collective behaviors. Although behavior change occurs at an individual level, people tend to function according to the expectations and standards set by the community. As Arjun Appadurai states in his essay – Capacity to aspire: Culture and the terms of recognition, “Aspirations form parts of wider ethical and metaphysical ideas which derive from larger cultural norms. Aspirations are never simply individual (as the language of wants and choices inclines us to think). They are always formed in interaction and in the thick of social life.” It therefore becomes necessary to look

at how systemic change can occur on many levels through interventions that are systemic, sustainable and cyclic in nature. School as an intervention Although proposing and implementing change at the school level requires time, resources and procedures on multiple levels, the sphere of influence possessed by the school needs to be harnessed in fostering mindsets of acceptance, flexibility and openness. Existing curriculum and school structure needs to be analyzed and understood, current visions and goals need to be assessed in order to understand the goal of learning and what it really means to learn with others who maybe different.

Children abandoning research activity for more interesting games.

First school visit. Talking to a student who afraid to participate.

Playing with participants in return for their involvement in research

CHALLENGES The project brought along several challenges which only surfaced after it took off. A project on understanding the stereotypes and biases in participants meant that it was necessary to be very open and not make assumptions while gathering data for research. Through the activities it was necessary to not be objective and bring in pre-conceived notions. For instance, when children were drawing, instead of assuming what the drawings meant, they were asked to decode their own drawings and explain it to the group. Gender being a very niche topic is very difficult to communicate without making it seem irrelevant. An added struggle was the lack of research available in the Indian context to support the claims and

research. Parents and teachers would often be very skeptical about the need to talk to children about gender and stereotypes. Some institutions were not willing to be involved in the research. Children are often fickle minded, have short attention spans and very high expectations. This meant that every research plan had to be thoroughly thought of from start to end and had to include elements which were considered interactive, engaging and fun. This had to be considered while also making sure that the underlying objective of the research was not revealed. It was very challenging to gain their trust for them to open up to me. The initial stages of the research proved to be very tricky since I was an outsider to them and

there was a constant fear of being â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;wrongâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; or saying something unexpected which hindered them from being fully involved in the research. This meant that they had to be constantly assured that there were no right or wrong answers, they were at liberty to say whatever they felt like and most importantly â&#x20AC;&#x201C; their responses would not be shared with their teachers. Although children were more engaged and involved in group activities, their immediate responses and reactions to opinions of other kids would cause unease and change the direction of the conversation. Care had to be taken to make sure that children were not always interrupting others and waited for their turns to speak.

CONCLUSION This project has tried to understand existing social, economic and environmental factors that aid in the emergence of biases in children, to uncover opportunity spaces for system level interventions. By taking on the lens of equity, the project has tried to investigate into the role of the caregivers, and design methods to help them dismantle biases in everyday life. It stresses on the need for longitudinal studies in this domain which could help in the development of new metrics and scales to measure and monitor bias. While existing interventions look at gender from the perspective of a

single touch-point, interventions need to be cyclic, child-centric and involving various stakeholders - working as a whole rather than in silos. The various methods used to probe, can be further revised and employed to discuss with children several sensitive topics which are otherwise considered irrelevant and unnecessary. This project proposes a systemic intervention in home, school and community levels; providing stakeholders with tools to equip them with the necessary skill sets to work towards inclusive and equitable futures.

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