Diversity Exercise: Stereotyping

Purpose

In this exercise, delegates examine stereotypes and understand the implications of stereotyping. It helps them to discover on their own that stereotyping is highly subjective.

Objective

Identify the description of a number of stereotypes and share that view with those of others.

What You Need

• “Stereotyping questionnaire” for each delegate

Setup

• Explain stereotyping if you haven’t done it already.
  • Stereotyping is assuming that all members of a particular group match the characteristics of the individual you have seen.
• Distribute the questionnaires to all delegates.
• Ask them to fill in the details based on their views.
• Allocate 10 minutes for this part.
• Bring back everyone together and go through the cases one by one and ask each delegate to present their description.
• Expect the descriptions to have similarities, but also differences. The fact that there are differences between opinions strongly suggests that stereotypes are not universal and are subjective.
• Follow with a discussion.

Timing

Explaining the Exercise: 5 minutes.

Activity: 10 min activity + 10 min sharing = 20 minutes

Group Feedback: 5 minutes.

Discussion

What did you learn in this exercise? What do you think when the stereotype of something is widely different from person to person? What does this tell you about your own stereotyping? How can you avoid it?

Lesson learned: Stereotyping is subjective, not universal.

Stereotyping Questionnaire

Identify the following stereotypes: