Gender stereotypes – they feel like a never-ending battle that starts right from the moment we come into this world! It begins with the inevitable monochrome bombardment of “Pink is for girls and blue is for boys”; it then goes onto “Boys don’t cry”, “Boys shouldn’t cook”, until we end up at “Men know nothing about childcare and suck at parenting!”
These are dangerous analogies that do more harm than good, as any overworked woman with a spouse who does nothing will tell you!
While it is great that all of us are talking a lot more about gender quality and breaking stereotypes when it comes to our girls, we often (and very comfortably) forget our boys. As a mother, I feel our boys need a sense of gender equality even more so than our girls – simply because real change is not going to come by if we leave this 50% behind. Such stereotypes also put a big burden on boys to hide their emotions and not be too obviously caring.
How Long Will We Tell Boys That Making Tea Is Girly? #UnStereotype
Jyotishree Mohanty 