In early May, SOSU OJ invited students and teachers to an open event about gender and study choices.
The GUIDE project was presented by project manager and coordinator, Lisbeth Marcussen. The background and purpose of the project was presented to the participants, including the presentation of the Digital tool for identifying stereotypes in career decisions.
After the presentation, there was a joint discussion on the concepts of norms, bias and stereotypes. The participating students took part in a joint discussion where they were able to share their own experiences about the prejudices and stereotypes they encounter, but also have themselves, in relation to certain study choices. The distribution of men and women at the event was very representative of the programme – 2 were men, 9 were women.
This also gave us the opportunity to talk about how the two men experience taking a programme that is so female-dominated. Surprisingly, they found it mainly positive. They felt that among professionals and older people, they were favoured because of their gender. However, they had naturally experienced prejudice about their choice of study programme, but not much more than the female students.
As one student put it, “you are put in a box no matter what choice you make“.
In addition to talking about bias, stereotypes etc. in relation to the digital tool, we also touched on why students had made their study choices. One out of 10 students had been counselled specifically for the programme. The others had chosen the study programme based on influence from friends or family.
Finally, we discussed various work and study environments. There was a general consensus that the study and work environment with a roughly equal distribution of men and women was positive. Several felt that they could each bring different perspectives to the table.
Stay tuned for more!
