My daughter is - as much as is possible - never exposed to gender stereotyping and yet the other day, because a boy at school got a doll with him, she came out the school gate all indignant: “Mama, that’s not right. Boys should play with cars.” I spluttered. Where on earth was she getting these outdated notions from? I explained that boys will one day grow up to be daddies so why can’t they play being a pretend parent? I tell you, she didn’t seem too convinced.
Then my friend’s 4-year old daughter announced that only boys can become doctors; girls could only be nurses. Her mother and I nearly had a heart attack. The funny thing is that our daughters are absorbing these messages from somewhere, and it’s certainly not from home: it’s the ever present social conditioning. Dammit.
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