How would life be if you woke up tomorrow as the opposite gender?
I am both a Rotarian and a Soroptimist. Since lockdown, as with Rotary, I have attended lots of Zoom talks run by other clubs. The East Grinstead club has attracted some amazing speakers, including Jen Toll, whose fascinating talk I recently watched, and where this question came from.
Jen is a mother of two daughters, who was disappointed by the messages on clothing for girls. They tended to use words such as pretty, perfect, and sweet, whereas clothes for boys often used terms like cool, brave, and daring. In addition, she saw that there were lots of references to princesses and none to scientists! These things put limits on the beliefs that girls had about themselves, and what they thought they could become as they grew up.
This showed itself in a number of ways. We heard that when a group of children were asked to draw a firefighter or a doctor, all of them drew a man. They were taken aback when a female firefighter was then brought into the room! Jen mentioned several shocking statistics about the low representation of women in senior positions in workplaces.
So she started Not Just A Princess – which aims to challenge gender stereotypes by doing two things. They find and share career stories of real women, and they produce organic T-Shirts for girls with wording that is the opposite of the more usual messaging. For example, it says Little Princess – but then crosses out Princess and instead says Pilot, Scientist, Engineer and so on.
Their website has interviews with women in various jobs, with the stories of how they got there, and what they like most or have found most challenging about their work.
In parallel she cofounded the Festival of the Girl, which has interactive sessions with inspiring speakers, and covers issues such as mental health and body positivity as well as career sessions.
This part of the talk was inspiring. However the thing which made the biggest impression on me was about if, and how, we as individuals may be reinforcing gender and other stereotypes in how we use language in daily life. Examples such as “man up, you’re throwing the ball like a girl, and boys don’t cry” show that stereotyped messaging is equally unfair to both boys and girls. It is always worth asking whether you would use the same expression to either gender. If not, then it was sexist.
It was also a revelation to try to answer the question at the start of this article – try it yourself and see what it shows about your own preconceptions about gender and society. Overall a brilliant session which made me think!
Sushi Gow, SI Thames Valley
https://www.notjustaprincess.co.uk/
https://www.festivalofthegirl.com/