Fort Bend Women's Center: Stereotypes Project

Over the next few months, the Girl Up Southeast Texas Coalition will be partnering with Fort Bend Women's Center for domestically abused women, to bring projects to educate and inspire the children in the shelter. Our first project was craft-tastic! We hung out with the kids and introduced them to gender stereotypes by showing videos on preconcieved notions of what different genders are expected to be like (Professions, #RunLikeAGirl, Man Enough). It is incredibly important that from a young age, boys and girls understand gender stereotypes in order to shatter them whenever they encounter them in the future. Some of the children had already been exposed to stereotyping and gave us examples of stereotypes that they'd witnessed in their own lives. Then, they made collages about themselves and their dreams by cutting out scrapbook paper and pictures/phrases from magazines that inspired them, such as empowering quotes and people they really admire, all while blasting their favorite songs as they worked. Thank you to all the wonderful people at the shelter for making us feel welcome!