The beautiful princess is rescued by the brave prince and everyone lives happily ever after. How many times have we read or seen that and other similar scenarios? All too often, girls are portrayed as the meek, polite and nurturing ones, while boys are told to ‘man up’, or ‘be brave’, because they are expected to be strong, bold and daring.
While awareness of gender stereotyping is growing, children are still receiving messages from the world around them about what it means to be a boy or a girl. Dr Elly Barnes, CEO and founder of inclusion and social justice charity Educate and Celebrate, says society perpetuates gender stereotypes ‘through the language we use, gendered spaces and activities, constant reassertion of the binary and general lack of representation and visibility outside of the binary’.
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