©Tdh/S.

Shrestha  -  Inde
Have you ever told your own children
“Do not cry, you’re a boy/men”?
©Tdh/S.Shrestha  -  Inde

Changing children’s views on gender

stereotypes
Agenda & presenters
q Preamble 
q Some results of the survey data on most common gender 
stereotypes in Moldova 
q Developed tools for changing children’s views on gender 
stereotypes
q Results after two years of implementation 
q Questions and answers 
Octombrina Moraru, Anatolii Oprea,
Child Protection  Child Protection 
Specialist,Terre des  Specialist,Terre des 
hommes Moldova hommes Moldova

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 As  an  effort  to  prevent 
child  abuse,  in  2015 
we  launched  a  project 
which  the  main  goal 
was  to  engage  men  in 
prevention  violence 
against children.

Over 3000 children in 31 schools from 28 local communities 

participated in the project.

For a violence free life of children in Moldova

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 One of the causes of violence
is gender-based stereotypes

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TRUE or FALSE

• Real men are strong and do not cry.

• A man/boy should not be afraid of anything! And even if

he is afraid - it’s not all right to talk about it with anyone.

• Have you ever told your own children “Do not cry, you’re
a boy/men”?

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 Gender stereotypes
in Moldova

There are deeply rooted 
stereotypes on the gender 
roles in the Moldovan 
society and children share 
these stereotypes. 

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 In our baseline 
study, 82 percent of 
surveyed children 
agreed that a real 
man/boy never cries.

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 71 percent of children 
aged 12-18 years old 
believe that a real 
man/boy must have 
no fear of anything, 
and even if he is 
afraid of something, 
he should never show 
it or talk about it. 

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Open question

• Who can change children’s opinions about stereotypes?

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 Our applied practices for children

• A child-friendly space – Ludoteca (toy library) – was 
created in schools; 
• Psychosocial activities;
• Different activities/games in toy library;
• Peer-to-peer activities;
• Summer camps;
• Two board games designed to decrease the stereotypes.

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Our applied practices for teachers

• Trainings in management of Ludoteca and organization of 
psychosocial activities; 
• 8 mini-grants; 
• Training on Conscious Gender Sensitive Parenting. 

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Our applied practices for parents

• Activities for parents on Conscious Gender Sensitive 
Parenting;
• Activities, where they participated with their children.

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 In  2017,  32%  of  children  aged  12-
18,  participating  in  the  evaluation, 
agreed with the statement that real 
men  are  strong  and  do  not  cry, 
compared  to  2016,  when  82% 
agreed  with  this  statement  during 
the baseline study.

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16
 What did we do?

• Baseline study in February 2016 - we identified the 
stereotypes questioning 960 children;
• Based on results, were designed several tools to reduce 
the stereotypes;   
• Application of the tools in the various activities during a 
year;
• Questioning children one more time, and comparing the 
results.

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 Tools. Board games
Memo’s world without  BUUM! Stereotypes
stereotypes

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19
BUUM! Stereotypes

Positive messages:
• It is not a shame if a boy or a girl cries.
• Both girls and boys can wear pink clothes.
• All the family members should be involved in the decision 
making.

Negative message:
• Men do not wash dishes, nor do the laundry.
• There are jobs only for men and jobs only for women.
• Women love children more than men.

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Tools. Psychosocial activities on gender equality
for teenagers

• This  workshop  manual  is  dedicated 

specially,  but  not  limited,  to 
professional  and  young  leaders  that 
are  engaged  in  activities  with  boys 
and young men of 12 years and older, 
to develop a set of skills and abilities 
with  the  main  goal  to  decrease  the 
violent and abusive behaviour among 
young  men  and  their  peers  and  to 
promote  a  gender  equal  non-
judgmental conduct.

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 Links to developed tools

• https://childhub.org/en/child-protection-tools-trainers/psychosocial-activities-gender
-equality-teenagers 

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGnNpwyW6Vk&t=9s 

• http://tdh-moldova.md/media/files/files/suport_participanti_aleg_2017_925402.pdf  

• https://childhub.org/en/child-protection-online-library/conscious-gender-sensitive-
parenting 

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©Tdh/ Francois Struzik- Moldova

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