The Bechdel Test: Exploring women's representation in films

• Show Slide 2. Ask learners to think of a film or series they've watched recently and discuss the following questions with a partner:  

Are the characters mostly men/boys, mostly women/girls or roughly equal?

Which characters are the most important to the story?  

• Do some group feedback on ideas without trying to draw conclusions at this point. 

• Show Slide 3. Tell learners that they're going to read about a test that helps us check if a film shows women in a positive way. Ask them to talk to their partner and try to guess what the three rules are.
• As you are monitoring, write any useful language on the board.
• Do some group feedback and ask learners to share their ideas. Accept all suggestions. 

• Show Slide 4 and/or hand out the worksheet.
• Ask learners to read the text and check if their guesses were right.
• Show Slide 5 (Worksheet task 1). Ask learners to read the text again and decide if the sentences are true or false.
• Learners compare their answers with their partner.
• Show Slide 6 and ask them to check their answers. 

• Before the lesson, go to the Bechdel Test website (https://bechdeltest.com/) and identify three different films that you think your learners will have heard of. Choose a variety of genres and films that pass or fail. You can either simply write the names of the films on the board or, if possible, show clips of the trailers on YouTube or show the film posters. After showing each film title/clip/poster, ask learners: Do you think this film passes the test? Why/why not?
• If possible, give learners the link to https://bechdeltest.com/search/ and ask them to search for the answers, or alternatively screenshot the pages that show the result. Note that the answers have been contributed by individuals and that there is often discussion as to whether a film passes or not.
• Ask the learners if anything surprised them about the results. 

• Show Slide 7 (Worksheet task 2). Ask learners to discuss the questions with their partner:

1. Do you think the Bechdel Test is a good way to measure the representation of women in films? Why/why not?
2. In your opinion, which types of films are most likely to pass the test (e.g. action; war; romantic comedy; horror; sci-fi; fantasy; drama; superhero; teen movies; musicals). Why?
3. Do you think that more films pass the Bechdel Test now than ten years ago? Why/why not?

• Show Slide 8 to remind learners of language they can use for giving opinions, agreeing and disagreeing, and speculating.
• While monitoring, help learners with any language they might need, and note useful vocabulary and phrases on the board.
• Do some group feedback on ideas and language. When discussing question 1, you could mention to your learners that the cartoonist Alison Bechdel originally came up with the test as a joke. She wanted to highlight that even though the rules are very simple, many films still don't pass. It wasn't meant to be a serious way to measure how well women are represented in films. 

• Show Slide 9 (Worksheet task 3). Tell learners that with their partner/group, they are going to apply the rules of the test to a film or series that they all know by filling in details for the three rules.
• Tell them that they should prepare to explain whether their film/series passes or fails and why. They should also be able to tell the class whether they believe that the film truly shows women in a positive way (i.e. are the test results accurate?).
• As a whole class, note which films passed or failed and lead a group discussion where you try to draw some conclusions about which genres are more likely to pass or fail, and whether more recent films or series are more likely to pass. 

• Show Slide 10. Either ask learners to discuss with their partner or ask them to complete the sentences on sticky notes.

1. In my opinion, the most interesting Bechdel Test result was…
2. A new phrase or expression I used today was…

• Either put the sticky notes on the wall so that everyone can read each other's ideas or nominate a few learners to share their ideas orally. 

• Tell learners about another similar test, such as the DuVernay Test, which investigates whether people of colour in a film are complex characters with their own stories and significance. Ask learners to think of a film or series they like and answer the following questions to decide whether or not it passes the DuVernay (or other) Test. Give them questions to answer, for example:

1. Does the film have at least two people of colour, who are not in a romantic relationship with each other? (These characters must have complex lives rather than existing only in relation to white characters.)
2. Do they have names?
3. Do they have speaking parts, and are their conversations about something other than white characters?  

• Learners watch/research their film or series at home and report their findings to the class in the next lesson.