Rainmaker wrote:
>
[snip]
> I have three daughters (and two sons) and they were never told
> they couldn't do anything. Some times I wish I did stop them --
> like when one back packed alone across Europe. I'm quite
> surprised that parents tell girls they can't do something. Sucks.
[snip]
While I usually stay away from the stuff that's straying off-topic,
sometimes I can't resist <g>.
It's not always a direct "you can't do this." It's often more subtle.
I remember the pictures on the front of "When I Grow Up I Want To Be"
books. The nurses were female, the doctors were male. The scientists
were male. The homemakers were female. Shop classes for boys. Home Ec
for girls. (Little League didn't allow girls when I was the right age.)
I'm 37 - older than many in this business, certainly older than George's
kids ;-), but I'd guess the stereotypes continue, though I'd hope less
pervasive today.
BTW, I went to an all-girls gifted high school. Public, but entrance by
exam only and you could only enter in 7th grade (it was a 6-year
program). The year after I got in, it went co-ed. 14 boys the first
year, then pretty much 50/50. I was president of the science club of
about 30 members. It was all female my first year, then two boys when
they were allowed in. Still about 30 members (very small school). When
I graduated, the science club was about 80% male - still about 30
members. Same level of activity, just a dramatic gender turnaround.
BTW, the year before I graduated, two girls got *perfect scores* on
their SAT's (Scholastic Aptitude Tests - a standardized pre-college
test) - best friends, both enrolled in the Advanced Calculus elective,
both members of the Math Team (Secant, Tangent, Cosine, Sine! 3 point 1
4 1 5 9! Goooooo Math Team <vbg>), and both very talented musicians.
But the computer-related activities after school were predominantly
male, and the teachers seemed to expect this (ah, the days of punch
cards). After the boys came in, the shift was still to males in the
same areas that females had occupied just as successfully in the boys'
absence. I still think society quietly impresses its expectations. A
male lawyer or doctor is a lawyer or doctor, but a female in the same
profession is a "lady lawyer" or a "female doctor." Same for minorities
in some cases as well.
Terri Grodner, member of the last all-female graduating class of Hunter
College High School. I used to tell people it was a reform school, as,
like Tamra mentions, it's very difficult to get dates if you mention you
travel 2 hours each way to go to a school for the intellectually gifted
- still is difficult to get dates, now that I think of it... <g>)
Director of Interactive Development
Iovation Interactive, a division of Ovation Design
http://www.iovation.com/ http://www.ovationdesign.com/
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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