Though the post is fairly long and rambly, I couldn't resist sharing this call-to-arms by Renee at Womanist Musings about lingering gender assumptions, especially by schools:
"The education system seems to think that this is
still 1950 and that mothers are at home with tons of time on their
hands to participate in bake sales. This request is never gender
neutral, even though Daddy has two perfectly good hands himself. Why
is this still the norm when most women work a double day? Even if a
woman is a stay at home mother how does a vagina translate into the
ability to bake? Do I have an easy bake oven stashed somewhere in my
vaginal opening that I was not aware of?"
She has a larger point about the very narrow defintions of acceptable motherhood, but the comments are filled mostly with horrific stories about teachers telling single and/or working-outside-the-house and/or non-crafty moms that a purchased stocking/Valentines cards are not good enough, or that a married working mom couldn't interrupt play group for a work call while a single one (or a married dad) could, because for her a job was choice. Would like a little judgment with your assumptions? Or the other way around? Yeesh.
It's all a bit disheartening. And she's writing from Canada, too. Aren't they supposed to be more evolved than we are? (I'm kidding. Don't answer that.)
Photo by Tracy Hunter.
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