Gender equality through biographical stories in preschool period: An action research

From infancy, individuals develop stereotypes regarding gender roles. First of all, the girls who started to learn these roles in the family they were born adopt more feminine roles and men adopt more masculine roles. Within the scope of this study, it is aimed to determine the stereotypes of 60-72 months with critical literacy activities developed using biographical stories and various media sources and to contribute to the formation of the perception of gender equality. This study, which was conducted as an action research, lasted for a total of 14 weeks, one and a half hours a day on weekdays. Video recordings, still images, activity documents (paintings, posters, cards, etc.), researcher's diaries, the interview with the teacher served as the main data. In the study, first of all, the children's knowledge levels were determined, then an action plan was prepared including critical literacy activities, 10 professions mostly attributed to men according to gender stereotypes were selected, and the biographical stories of women and men engaged in these professions were shared with the children. In the critical literacy activities, children were helped to reach an understanding by using their prior knowledge and by analyzing the current situation with a critical lens through these biographical stories. At the end of the study, it was aimed to start a social action with children to bring these activities to the consideration of the wider society. The collected data were analyzed by using the multimodal interaction analysis method. As a result of the study, it was concluded that the children's perceptions of gender stereotypes and roles were very similar to the existing gender stereotypes and roles of the society, the carried-out activities contributed to changing these gender stereotypes and roles, and the perceptions of the children started to change in a positive way towards ensuring gender equality.