What Has Gender Equality Pushed Us to?

There has been such a push over the past 40 years for gender equality that I wonder if we are losing sight of whom we are as men and women. There are people in today’s society who refuse to tell anyone the gender of their child until required by law to do so when registering for public school. People determined to let their child play with any toy, no matter what gender it is stereotyped to be for. Is this what having gender equality has lowered us down to?

At first, gender equality issues were related to women being treated as equals. In the early 20^th century, this meant that both men and women were intelligent beings capable of voting. Later, women wanted to go to work and be paid the same amount that a man was paid. Again, this meant that men and women were capable, intelligent beings. Women were capable of doing the same work, in the same amount of time as the men; therefore, they should be paid the same amount of money that the men were receiving.  It had nothing to do with what kind of toys these men and women played with as children.

Recently, I read a story on Shine from Yahoo! about a couple in the United Kingdom who, in my opinion, took gender equality to a whole new level. This couple refused to tell anyone the gender of their child until just now and the child is 5 years old. The article also says that these parents wanted to avoid all stereotypes with their son, Sasha (Gender). So, instead of trucks and other stereotypical boy toys, this couple offered all variety of toys and clothing to their son. The article even mentions that they have allowed him to wear a glittery girl’s swimming suit (Gender).

In my opinion, these types of people should not be allowed to hide behind ‘gender equality’ when explaining their gender neutral parenting tactics. Believe I don’t want my kids to be stuck behind stereotypes of how a man and a woman are supposed to act.  We have trucks, bikes, drawing boards, high heels, stuffed animals, and many more toys for boys and girls of all ages. I do not stereotype my children, but I do believe they need a sense of gender identity. Children need to know if they are a boy or girl and understand that there are differences between the two genders.

Article Reference:

Couple Finally Reveal Child’s Gender, Five Years After Birth. Shine on Yahoo!. 1/20/12. http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/couple-finally-reveals-childs-gender-five-years-birth-180300388.html