Gender Bias & the Education System
As part of my final year degree show, I created a project about gender bias and the UK education system. I designed this project to encourage students to recognise and combat gender bias and stereotyping. To prepare and encourage them to apply for any degree or job role that they find interesting, without being daunted by gender bias, armed with the vocabulary to challenge opinions.
Having extensively researched gender bias/stereotyping, I realised that although society has progressed immensely, there are still many environments and industries that are biased towards a certain gender. Some of the findings were shocking, which lead me to develop this project. Children should not be hindered by expectations and moulded into a certain image to fulfil our own subconscious needs. Teachers and parents have a major impact on a child’s identity and by creating a resource that can be used in an educational environment, a child will get the opportunity to question, learn and become comfortable with their gender. By encouraging children to discuss such issues, teachers and parents will also be encouraged to do so and in turn help each other.
The outcome was a guidebook series on gender for students aged 12 - 16. To make my project more feasible, I created a theoretical brand named Together. I chose Together as the name for the brand because it encompasses the aims of the brand (equality) and is suggestive of people working together. The brand Together is a charitable organisation that believes in equal opportunities for all. Together strives to make education accessible, modern and forward-thinking. The guidebooks graphic format are designed to deconstruct complex ideas and make them accessible for all readers. Together covers taboo topics like gender, sexuality, health and relationships.
The product is intended to be used in the classroom, integrated into PSHE lessons, as well as outside. The students can engage with the guidebooks and app where they can challenge their subconscious bias and learn more information to gain a better understanding of gender. It discusses unconscious gender bias, gender stereotyping, the difference between sex and gender, and equal rights. It contains a series of interactive activities on gender bias subjects that aim to engage the children, motivate them to discuss the issues with each other and to respect each others opinions. The guidebooks serve as a form of self-evaluation, where they can disprove and alter their subconscious thoughts and biases.
The guidebooks are a series that form a set. Each is intended to be read after each other, hence the A,B,C systematic / numerical labelling. This specific set is dedicated to the topic of Gender. Each guidebook follows a theme that links to the overall subject matter. Guidebook A has the theme of Space/Fantasy, inspired by numerous depictions of gender through sci-fi films, in which gender is fluid or not applicable at all. Gender is depicted as a far-off or futuristic aspiration. Guidebook B’s theme is Biology, focusing specifically on the human body. As the topic is gender and its relation to sex, the theme of biology is fitting as we are discussing human terminology. Guidebook C’s theme is People, relating gender to different cultures, religions and ethnicities. The word ‘gender’ is intended to be metallically embossed on to all of the covers. The Together logo is intended to be embossed and laminated.
Guidebook A is intended as an introduction to the topic of gender, discussing a broad range of subject matters relating to gender. Because of this, the theme of space takes gender outside of the context of culture and society, discussing it in isolation but keeping it fun. The themes of Guidebooks B and onwards put gender into context for example discussing the link between sex and gender, or gender throughout history. Guidebook A’s cover is vibrant, colourful and eye-catching. The colour palette I chose for the design (and overall branding) is intended to appear gender-neutral, but not boring, appealing to boys and girls through minimalistic, geometric illustrations.
The purpose of the website is to advertise to education providers about the brand and its products. Student and teacher portals are available to sync data from the app. Teachers can view and track individual student’s progress and set assignments. An admin portal is also available for educational providers to purchase the guidebooks for their school.
To accompany the guidebook, I created the ui design for an app. The app accompanies the Together guidebooks. The Together app provides a method of tracking a student’s progress, as well as allowing them access to the other Together resources. By creating an accompanying app, it is able to support augmented reality viewing, providing the students with alternative methods of learning. Developing some of the content as animated videos is both engaging and adapts the content to fit the user’s technological capabilities. An app provides a sense of independence; a student is able to develop their learning outside of the school environment. They can seek support and informal advice through the chat service as it is anonymous and provides an accessible platform to ask for help, free of the stigma associated with speaking to a counselor or teacher.
A gender bias decoder is built into the Together app. Words that are biased towards male or female are underlined in the chat screen, as well as while typing a message. Alternative, gender neutral words are provided. Spelling errors are also underlined. This feature is essential for showing the impact of gender-biased language. Language that connotes a certain gender perpetuates stereotypes and can affect the hiring process when applying for a job.
