Workplace stereotypes

Brainstorm in groups: What are workplace stereotypes?

• Give a definition a what a “stereotype” is: a stereotype is a preconceived idea or image in society about the different skin colours, genders, ethnicities, social classes and religions…
• What consequences could they have? The stereotypes we have could generate inequalities: indeed, some people can think stereotypes are real and this can impact other people’s lives. For example, in construction, women will less likely be employed /hired because they are supposed to be weak.

So stereotypes / prejudices /clichés can affect many people in the professional world and prevent them from accessing some jobs.

• to prevent from V-ING: empêcher qqn de
• weak: faible
• to be (more/less) likely to + BV: être (plus/moins) susceptible de

Take a piece of paper

Visualise the people doing the following jobs and note down what they look like precisely:

Share in groups using English only: what do you notice? We usually have prejudices / stereotypes / clichés against CEOs or nurses: we usually think of female nurses since it is a job which is mainly done by women while there are also many male nurses. It is interesting to see that CEOs are mainly imagined as old white men.

[pic 1]

https://wtop.com/news/2013/12/metro-stands-by-ad-womens-gro up-calls-sexist/

Recap

This ad campaign for the Metrobus is supposed to put forward / shed light on the environmentally-friendly aspect of it but it actually conveys sexist stereotypes against women who are thought to be uninterested in technical details or who are believed to only care about superficial discussions (like fashion).

GRAMMAR POINT: pour parler de stéréotypes, on utilise la voie passive avec des expressions comme:

• be supposed to +BV
• be thought to + BV
• be believed to + BV

Il faut conjuguer BE à la personne et au temps qui conviennent.

• to put forward : mettre en avant
• to shed light on: mettre en lumière

Watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyaHzY-8AD4

1. type of video? It is an ad / advertisement / a commercial from Volkswagen for its electric model.
2. identify the different people? what are they doing? We can see a disabled athlete, a male camper, a male astronaut but also women’s hands doing the laundry / the washing or preparing picnics / snacks for the family and a mum or childminder having a break, reading.

We can notice a sharp / clear difference between men’s and women’s activities: men are doing dangerous, scientific, technical achievements or overcoming physical disabilities while women are doing basic and everyday tasks.

1. Look at the written texts “let’s talk about progress” and “we can achieve anything”: what do they mean?

• to overcome: surmonter
• pram/pushchair (GB) / buggy (US): une poussette

Watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyaHzY-8AD4

1. Look at the written texts “let’s talk about progress” and “we can achieve anything”: what do they mean?

These messages are completely off: we can only see traditional roles given to women in the video. There is no progress in terms of stereotypes against women: they are at home while men are outside. They are doing domestic chores and they cannot understand the scientific and technical prowess of the new electric car.

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