Title: 2.6 What do assumptions have to do with it?
Course: Introduction to gender-based analysis plus GBA+ > Section: Module 2

Every person has biases. One of the core components of GBA+ is to examine and challenge our own assumptions about an issue or a group of people. In so doing, we are taking the first step to preventing inequality and ensuring we no longer unintentionally perpetuate biases and assumptions about particular groups of people.

Consider this scenario…

While driving on a highway, a father and son are involved in a terrible accident. The fire department is the first respondent at the scene.

As the boy is carefully removed from the wreckage, one of the firefighters exclaims, “That’s my son!”

Who is this firefighter?

- What was your very first thought or reaction to the scenario?
- Did you come up with more than one possibility?
- Did you assume the sex and gender of the firefighter based on their profession?

Your response will be influenced by your assumptions, biases and life experiences. Your assumptions and biases will have been largely moulded by your conditioning (e.g. family values, community and education) and your own life experiences.

Who is this firefighter?

Given that the number of women firefighters in Canada is still very low, we might assume that the firefighter is a man and the boy’s second/other father (e.g. step-father, same-sex partner) rather than the boy’s mother.