From stereotype to prejudice

Germany – France – Turkey

The project

What role does discrimination play in the everyday life of young people? To what extent is the young generation confronted with unequal treatment and stigmatisation at school, during apprenticeships or during their first professional experiences? What are specific challenges and difficulties in fighting inequalities in a diverse and modern society?

People repeatedly experience unequal treatment and are subjected to numerous mechanisms of exclusion and discrimination. Inequality is often combined with pejorative speech. People are then unlawfully discriminated against and disadvantaged on the basis of actual or assumed characteristics vehiculated through speech. They are then denied rights that others unquestionably claim for themselves.

The project “From Stereotypes to Prejudice” aims to stimulate this debate at the international level and to discuss young people’s experiences. We would like to draw particular attention to inequality, exclusion and discrimination based on gender and the role attributions associated with it.

Furthermore it is still predominantly traditional role models that have an impact on a large part of the young generation. After all, even today, children grow up in conditions determined by social attributes assigned to their biological gender. These are attributions and expectations from which there is hardly any escape, and which are enforced in visible and more subtle ways.

For example, girls receive less pocket money than their brothers on average, but have to help more in the household. There are clear ideas about how friendships and role-conforming behaviour should look like in friendships between girls or between boys, clear expectations when choosing a workplace for training or study, and clear views on sometimes unrealistic body images that are far too rarely questioned.

Who does which sport? Which hobbies are okay?

The special feature of this project is that it brings together a group composed exclusively of young girls: a group of participants from Marseille and young girls from Berlin and Cottbus and Diyarbakir in Turkey. The aim is to set up an intercultural project in several phases, addressing the issues of discrimination, prejudice, equal opportunities and diversity. The sheltered framework of a girls-only group should offer the participants the opportuity to openly discuss similarities and differences. Between girls they will be able to talk about common problems and their place in the family and their social environment without having to worry about negative feedback and judgements from friends or family members.

Dates and places

 Phase I:Marseille – from 06/07/2019 to 13/07/2019
Phase II:Afacan / Izmir – from 19/10/2019 to 26/10/2019
Phase III:Online – from 09/07/2020 to 11/07/2020
Phase IV:Online – from 21/10/2020 to 23/10/2020

The participants

The project is aimed at young female* participants between 17 and 21 years of age who have little access to international mobility programmes and who are motivated to meet young people from other partner countries. The group will spend several project phases together. As interpreters will be present at all phases of the project, no previous language skills are required.