There is a lot of debate on whether men and women are treated equally.
In this day and age, you would think these issues would be behind us. Apparently, even schoolchildren are dealing with inequality like this. One dad recently shared the story of what his daughter and some other girls at her school had to deal with when the school decided to split up the kids based on gender.
A school in South Wales decided to allow the boys to go on a field trip to a hardware store. While they were gone, the girls would be sent to the library to have their hair and makeup done.
Stephen Callaghan’s Ruby was one of these girls. He couldn’t believe what she was telling him.
Like most fathers, he wants his daughter to have the same advantages as the boys her age, and he wants her to know that there is more to her life than simply looking pretty. He was upset and decided to write a letter to the school questioning the decision to do something like this.
“Dear Principal,
“I must draw your attention to a serious incident which occurred yesterday at your school where my daughter is a Year 6 student. When Ruby left for school yesterday it was 2017, but when she returned home in the afternoon she was from 1968.
“I know this to be the case as Ruby informed me that the “girls” in Year 6 would be attending the school library to get their hair and make-up done on Monday afternoon while the “boys” are going to Bunnings.
“Are you able to search the school buildings for a rip in the space-time continuum? Perhaps there is a faulty Flux Capacitor hidden away in the girls’ toilet block.
“I look forward to this being rectified and my daughter and other girls at the school being returned to this millennium where school activities are not sharply divided along gender lines.
“Yours respectfully,
Stephen Callaghan”
He sent the letter to the school and posted it on Twitter.
Ruby’s school did not reply to the letter, but its Twitter post got a lot of comments. Most people agreed that what the school was doing was wrong. Others however, thought that it was OK to let girls do “girl things” and boys do “boy things.” Callaghan claims that the fact that there are gender roles assigned to things is ridiculous. He believes everyone should be allowed to choose what they want to do regardless of their gender.
The school may not have replied to the letter, but it did issue a statement saying that students did have the choice to go on the field trip or stay and have their hair done in the library. Apparently, this wasn’t explained well to the students, because Ruby didn’t feel as if she had a choice.
Callaghan didn’t expect his letter to get so much attention, but he was happy that it raised awareness of the issue. He hopes that it helps prevent similar things from happening at other schools and to other young girls.
He later posted:
“At 12 years of age my daughter is starting to notice there are plenty of people prepared to tell her what she can and can’t do based solely on the fact she is female. She would like this to change. So would I.”
Hopefully, the school realized that it was wrong to suggest that students would be happy with these activities and will make better field trip options available to all students in the future. If Ruby ever has to deal with something like this again, at least she knows that her dad will have her back.
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I wrote a letter pic.twitter.com/oFJp7egVnf
— Grumplestiltskin (@2FBS) December 6, 2017
