- Joined
- Jan 21, 2010
When I started work in the 1980's, it was still okay in my office for men to have a bit of a grab and grope with female staff, and for them to patronize and use "cutesy" terms for them. If you complained, your career was done - you were a troublemaker and "one of those feminists". Of my graduating class, in a highly literate and well-off city, I was the only female to go to University - the rest went to secretarial college.
Fast forward to 2011. My highly academic, and tall, skating daughter, has been presented with the following:
a) Go to college. You'll get a job there, and until you're married, you'll need to support yourself.
b) Don't work so hard in school. You're stressing yourself out; do you thinkyou need to see a doctor for your anxiety over school, and maybe some meds?
c) Why are you setting your goals so high?
These all from a school guidance counsellor ... and I've heard teachers giving the same messages to girls (oddly enough, the female teachers too).
As a skater, who has height and - though only a size 4 - curves:
a) You're too tall to skate. Judges like small dainty girls.
b) We don't make skating dresses for girls with curves very often.
c) You look weird out there on the warmup: skaters are supposed to be small and skinny.
So, although we've made progress, there are still stereotypes and messages to overcome.
Fast forward to 2011. My highly academic, and tall, skating daughter, has been presented with the following:
a) Go to college. You'll get a job there, and until you're married, you'll need to support yourself.
b) Don't work so hard in school. You're stressing yourself out; do you thinkyou need to see a doctor for your anxiety over school, and maybe some meds?
c) Why are you setting your goals so high?
These all from a school guidance counsellor ... and I've heard teachers giving the same messages to girls (oddly enough, the female teachers too).
As a skater, who has height and - though only a size 4 - curves:
a) You're too tall to skate. Judges like small dainty girls.
b) We don't make skating dresses for girls with curves very often.
c) You look weird out there on the warmup: skaters are supposed to be small and skinny.
So, although we've made progress, there are still stereotypes and messages to overcome.