The modern Little Red

Riding Hood
“ GENDER EQUALITY, AS A HUMAN RIGHT ”
A few words…

 The intention of this essay is to create an educational scenario with the main
purpose of understanding the concept of gender equality as a human right.
 This is proposed to be realized through a different version of the classic story of
Little Red Riding Hood, in which several gender stereotypes are identified.
 The activity is based on the theoretical principles of critical pedagogy and Giroux.
The educational scenario was implemented in the classroom and most of the goals
of the program were achieved.
Introduction
 educational scenario focuses on gender equality
 This choice emerged from the literature review:
• Research has shown that childhood is dominated by many stereotypes about the qualities and
choices of both sexes.
• it is difficult to find clothes and toys free of stereotyped colors. They note that the choice of
pink in items intended for girls and the choice of blue for items intended for boys prevails.
• traditional gender roles prevail. These roles expect boys to be strong and fearless, while girls
to be polite and beautiful.
(Ceci and Williams, 2007; Steffens and Jelenec, 2011)
Introduction

 This educational scenario is aimed at preschool students and is based on a fairy

tale.
 The choice of the fairy tale as a method:
• from the importance that this has for the preschool child.
• are part of the social, intellectual, linguistic and emotional growth of the child.
• values, ideals and habits of the social context - a reflection of society.

(Ruterana, 2012)
Introduction

 The choice of the fairy tale as a method:

• hide stereotypes about the characteristics and role of the sexes.
• stories are "a home for gender stereotypes".
• through literature, children’s attitudes are influenced.
• male characters are presented as strong, powerful, clever and adventure.
• female characters are presented as weak, passive, sensitive, sweet and beautiful,
and have roles related to marriage, emotions and motherhood
(Ruterana, 2012)
Zipes (1997)
Theoritical Backround
 based on the principles of critical pedagogy and more specifically on the theory of Giroux.
 the school curriculum cannot be disconnected from its cultural and social contexts. This is
something that the creation of the educational script was based on and it can be seen from the
use of the fairy tale, something very familiar to preschool children, something that they come
in contact with every day.
 experience through practice becomes the feature of education (Giroux, 1983). present
educational scenario it aims at learning through experience, since students are able to build
the book themselves and then "live" it from dramatization.
 schools are the mirror of society Injustice and gender stereotypes therefore reflects the
general inequality that prevails in society. It is also important to remove barriers to the
acquisition of new knowledge (Giroux, 1999). Students through this activity need to get rid of
gender stereotypes in order to proceed to the acquisition of knowledge, which concerns ideas
such as equality in the division of labor at home and equality of responsibilities that
accompany the roles of the sexes.
(Giroux, 1983).
Description of the scenario ‘s identity

TITLE "The modern Little Red

Riding Hood".
AGE 4—6 YEARS OLD
DURATION 2 HOURS
TYPE OF SCHOOL TYPICAL
Description of the scenario ‘s identity

 Purpose: Understanding the concept of gender equality as a human right

 Aims:
a. To understand the meaning of gender equality, through the restatement of the
story of "Little Red Riding Hood“
b. To challenge the sexist stereotypes of society, changing the story of "Little Red
Riding Hood“
c. Use the appropriate tools and multimodal means to rewrite the classic fairy tale
"Little Red Riding Hood
d. To express themselves artistically, illustrating the story of "Little Red Riding
Hood", based on the new script they created.
 Context – teaching procedure
 Previous knowledge:
• two brainstormings: One concerns the word boy and the other the word girl.
 Main part:
• a student tell the classic tale of "Little Red Riding Hood
• discussion with questions such as: "If you did not know that Little Red Riding Hood is a girl, how would
you know she was a girl?", "What was the heroine wearing?
• what would happen if…“: make changes in the fairy tale that will promote equality between boys and girls
and break down the relevant stereotypes
• decide on the final wording of the story,
• they construct the book.
• They are divided by lot into two groups. The first group undertakes to write the story as best they can. The
second group prepares the material for the book illustration. In the end both teams work together to put the
images in the right places in the story. They choose the new title of the story and the way the book will be
stapled.
Context – teaching procedure
 Evaluation:
• The dramatization method will be used to evaluate the objectives of the activity.
The teacher encourages the children to dramatize Little Red Riding Hood, but
does not tell them whether they will use the original story or the new one.
 Implementation
 During brainstorming:
 the children's ideas were freely expressed
 For the word "boy“: "kid like men", "they like blue, green, black", "pink is
not for boys", "they wear pants or shorts", "they have power , “they are not
afraid because they are men”
 For the word "girl“: "child as a woman", "they wear dresses and skirts
and pants", "they like pink, fuchsia and purple", "girls are afraid, while
boys are not afraid of anything", "Barbie, babies, teddy bears and mom
play", "they have long hair, but boys also have long hair, like a girl",
"you are not strong, because you are a girl".
 Implementation
Rewrite the story
 In the new story: Little Red Riding Hood is called Little Blue Riding Hood or Bleskoufitsa
 because red was "girlish". She is wearing blue clothes.
 The food that will go to her grandmother is given by the father "because fathers also cook".
 The heroine meets a shark and not a wolf, because the story unfolds on a beach, a change that
occurred spontaneously by the students.
 Little Blue Riding Hood is afraid of the shark, but she is brave and treats him. She presses a
button in her bag and tons of food leave, the shark eats and swells so much that it takes him to
sleep. She pops it and reaches her grandmother who is in a beach-bar, gives her the food and
the grandmother gets well.
 Implementation
 Making the book:
the students were divided into two groups of five.
One group made part of the text and the other the illustration.
The text was then combined with the images and the book was
created.

 Copies were printed that the students took home to "read to

their siblings." The original was placed in the classroom
library.
Implementation

 Next day…
Evaluation
The students chose Little Blue Riding Hood because Little Red Riding Hood is
"unfair" and "boring". Thus, the story of Little Blue Riding Hood was dramatized.
The roles were randomly divided by drawing lots. In this way the personality of the
heroes was not influenced by the gender of the children and vice versa.
They seemed to show interest in the new version of the fairy tale and repeated the
dramatization several times on their own initiative.
Limitations

 The main constraint for the implementation of the activity was time. Held in the
last week of the school year, days when students are usually upset and it is
difficult to maintain their attention.
 Regarding the time, necessarily due to modifications in the program (such as the
time of English), the activity was divided into three teaching hours, into three
days respectively. As a result, the flow of activity is lost and there is confusion as
to what we are negotiating.
Conclusions - Suggestions

 From the implementation of the activity, several concerns emerged regarding the
traditional female role of Little Red Riding Hood. Thus, Little Blue Riding Hood
was created. This particular story was an attempt by the students to create a Little
Red Riding Hood free of stereotypes regarding her gender.
 In the future, this action could be continued with other fairy tales that contain
gender stereotypes. More specifically, students could edit stories such as those of
Snow White and Cinderella. The stories could come together and become one
bigger book, a collection of fairy tales free of gender stereotypes. Ideally, it would
be great to have this book published and distributed to all schools so that it is
available in all school libraries.
References
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 Zipes, J. 1997. Happily ever after: Fairy tales, children, and the culture industry. London and New York: Routledge.