Gender stereotypes are already taking root in children's drawings: the experiment that deconstructs them

The Redraw the Balance project shows how gender stereotypes emerge from childhood. The original video has surpassed 100 million views and spawned initiatives that continue to try to eradicate them in schools around the world.

Ten years ago, a simple classroom test opened an unexpected window on how children construct their representation of the world. The Redraw the Balance project asked girls and boys aged five to seven to draw three professions: firefighter, surgeon and fighter pilot. The result was immediate and striking: out of 66 drawings, 61 were of men and only 5 of women.

The figures revealed the extent to which gender stereotypes are already deeply entrenched from an early age, even before the notion of work is really understood. But the most striking moment of the experiment came later: when three women actually working in these professions entered the classroom in their work clothes, the children were visibly stunned. This precise moment became the heart of the video that gave birth to the project.

A viral video with global impact

The video, published in 2016, quickly went viral, surpassing 100 million views. It has been relayed by international organizations such as the UN, UNESCO and the World Economic Forum. The reason for this success lies in its simplicity: it shows how ideas about what "men and women can do" are formed early and often, without anyone realizing it.

This first experiment gave rise to a larger project, Drawing the Future, which involved almost 20,000 children in 20 countries. The results confirmed a global phenomenon: career aspirations are strongly influenced by gender, social background and geographical context.

Back in the classroom and the Italian case

Over the years, the project has grown into an international network of schools and volunteers. More than five million encounters between students and professionals have enabled young people to talk directly to people in professions often perceived as "remote" or "atypical".

Today, Redraw the Balance returns in a new version carried out in Italy, thanks to the commitment of the Associazione Docenti e Dirigenti scolastici Italiani (Association of Italian Teachers and School Managers), in collaboration with the charity Education and Employers. The experiment was replicated in a school in Bologna, eliciting similar reactions: astonishment, curiosity and a rapid revision of initial ideas. But above all, a lot of men were drawn and very few women. The aim remains the same: to show that jobs have no gender, and that possibilities can be expanded simply by changing the way we look at them.

A change that starts with children

The project continues to develop through schools, institutions and educational programs that seek to introduce real models of success into the classroom. The idea is simple but powerful: meeting real people, in the exercise of their professions, helps children to look beyond labels and imagine freer paths. In an ever-changing world of work, experience shows that the real challenge is not just technological or economic, but also cultural: delivering new generations from patterns that often begin to form before we even know what they are.

(©GreenMe.it 2026/Managing editor: Malvina Parker - The Global Lifestyle/Picture: Dámaris Azócar via Unsplash)