"Girls are withering little princesses who love pink and ruffles and Barbie dolls and play the flute."
We see the impact of social stigma as girls grow up and enter the work force. Tech companies like Google struggle to find women to join their ranks, despite promoting programs like the Women in Tech movement. While the graphic at the left shows that women make up just 30% of the work force at Google, it is even more disappointing when we look at tech jobs. |
Women account for just 18% of tech jobs at Google.
Courtney Hartmann is a mom who has launched two lines of gender neutral clothing, designed to give kids a way to express themselves free from gender stereotypes. You can read more about her story in this article on Style.Mic. She decided to launch her brands because of an experience she had shopping for pajamas for her son. She found penguin PJs with very different penguins for the boys than for the girls. The girl penguins had long eyelashes, rosy cheeks, and bows on their heads. The boy penguins were fatter, wore sunglasses and a scarf. |
Think of the message those penguins were sending:
Unfortunately, the message a lot of girls get
from our society is that
they have to act like basket cases.
A lot.
And the message a lot of boys get
is that they shouldn't express themselves. Ever.
(Unless it's anger. Anger's OK.)
Kids need a pathway out.
Girls need to see that they have realistic choices and control over their lives, and BOYS...well boys need to stop being judged so harshly for being less-than-burly. I wish I had been given the option of gender neutral clothing when I was a kid. I was SO outside the box, and I was ridiculed for being there, but I didn't really know what to do with myself for a long time. And my hair! OMG. I have crazy curly hair that I didn't cut until I was 21. That really wasn't an option when I was a kid. Girls had long hair. | I am so excited for this next journey for kids. I'm hoping things become easier, at least socially and emotionally. Now to conquer the racial divides we have. I'm hoping that if we can overcome the gender identity issues, maybe the racial thing won't be as daunting as it seems. If you look back up at the Google chart, you'll notice that only 2% (1% tech) of Googlers are Black, and 3% (2% tech) are Hispanic. We have so much work to do. I've got my heart set on Berkeley so I can study Critical Race Theory and put that to use and make a difference. Wish me luck... |