Preschool teachers in Victoria are being encouraged to break down gender stereotypes in the classroom with fewer stories about princes and princesses. Preeti Daga, one of the advocate for White Ribbon Organisation says that stereotype views of gender roles and capabilities need to be changed.
She also points out that this gender inequality is not only in the mindset of East or of subcontinent as it is generally been perceived but we see the same in western society too. If in our countries we have role defining society, in western society, there is pretty girls and prince charming kind of society.
Preeti says, " So we need to be careful. If it's becoming about the princes saving the princesses, girls see themselves in passive position. Or are we making them belief that they need to be rescued by men ? They start to grow up thinking that that's what girls should and could ."
She adds that we should promote respectful relationships right from early childhood. It is very important that we teach our kids the right values and make them understand that every individual is different . We must teach our children that they are not judging or discriminating each other on gender basis . This would certainly improve male attitudes towards women from an early age and reduce domestic violence later in life.
Many organisations have come to the conclusion that one of the root cause of domestic violence across the globe is the gender inequality. If we teach our children the right values early on and not to differentiate or discriminate based on gender, it would definitely have significant impact on their adult life.
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In 2015 the Victorian Government announced the introduction of Respectful Relationships Education into the school curriculum.
The curriculum supports students to learn how to build healthy relationship and challenge negative stereotypes, attitudes and behaviours such as prejudice, discrimination and harassment that can lead to violence and excuse violence against women.
The Victorian Government is investing $21.8 million over two years to implement Respectful Relationships Education across schools and early childhood services because the best relationships are respectful ones, and expansion of the program was a recommendation of the Royal Commission into Family Violence. (Source: www.vic.gov.au)
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