Introduction to GBA Plus

What do assumptions have to do with it?

  • 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.