AN EDUCATION charity based in Basingstoke is launching a new campaign to fight gender stereotypes.

Inclusion Hampshire, which is based in Viables and Hook, has begun a project which will see staff working with young people to explore the issues around gender equality, violence against women and girls and the impact of toxic masculinity.

Its campaign will link with several events in November including Anti-Bullying Week, International Men’s Day and White Ribbon Day.

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It also covers the start of the World Cup – a time when statistically, the levels of domestic violence increase when national football teams play.

The charity is hoping to raise awareness of the damaging and limiting gender expectations and stereotypes people face in everyday life.

The importance of the campaign is highlighted in a video featuring the heads of both Inclusion School and College, seeking to explain some of the damaging effects these stereotypes can have and what we can do to challenge them.

Marie Greenhalgh, head of Inclusion College in Hook, said: “Equality, equity and diversity are very important to us at Inclusion, and we feel very strongly that part of our role with our students and learners is to explore and understand these wider social issues.

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“We hope the video reflects just some of the problems gender stereotyping can create and why we want to combat this.

“By asking students and learners to create their own slogans which defy these dangerous and limiting views they are not only demonstrating the depth of their understanding but also their own creativity as they turn a negative view into something positive.”

As part of the project students and learners from across the school and college have created their own stereotype-defying designs, with three being voted on as the favourites.

The chosen concepts will then be created as t-shirts for students and learners and a limited number will be available to buy, with any money raised going toward future campaigns.

Head of Inclusion School, Matthew Atkinson said: “This campaign is in no way about apportioning blame, rather it's about combating harmful assumptions which narrow people’s potential and add pressure to behave in certain ways which can be incredibly damaging.

“Not only can this place constricting expectations on women and girls, it also has detrimental effects on men and boys behaviour. Phrases such as ‘man up’, ‘boys don’t cry’, equating emotions to weakness and being unmanly can lead to not accessing help and support when they need it. We want to end this.”

This campaign will be running throughout November with t-shirts available to pre-order.

Further details can be found at inclusionhampshire.org.uk.