Critical Media Literacy and Gender: Teaching Middle School Children about Gender Stereotypes and Occupations

Author

Laurel Puchner, Linda Markowitz and Mark Hedley

Year

2015

Publisher

Journal of Media Literacy Education

DOI/Link

View Source

Abstract

This study examined the effectiveness of the implementation of a small-scale critical media literacy curriculum
unit focused on gender stereotypes, especially as they pertain to occupations. The research question was
whether students exposed to the critical media literacy (CML) curriculum were more likely than students not
exposed to believe: that women experience discrimination in the workplace; that the media constructs
stereotypical messages about women and men, especially regarding occupations; and that the media influences
people’s thinking. Participants were students in 5 seventh grade classes, who were exposed to a 4-workshop
curriculum, and students in 5 eighth grades classes, who were not. Methods included a 14-question pre-post
survey and interviews with 4 students before and after implementation of the CML unit. Quantitative and
qualitative findings indicate that the CML unit was generally successful at increasing the seventh graders’
understanding of target issues.

Keywords

Media Literacy, Gender and Media

Media and Information Literacy Repository – South Asia

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