It’s in the nursery where our daughter was on her first day directed to play with the girls, away from the ‘boys corner’ containing the cars. It’s in the shoe shop when boys’ school shoes are sturdy while girls’ have Mary-Jane buckles meaning they get wet feet if they try to take part in fun stuff like jumping in puddles – which means they’re less likely to. Wonderwoman played by Gal Gadot is a strong positive female role modelĬampaign group Let Toys Be Toys have successfully focused on the way toy shops direct boys to action toys and construction kits while girls must have everything in pink whether they like it or not and their toys, like dolls and play kitchens, reinforce women’s role in the home and kitchen. With kids around the same age some of the chaps brought their kids with them to play together. It was when James and some other dads got together to watch some Six Nations rugby round a friend’s house with the biggest telly. On the face of it action hero Jean Claude Van Damme may seem a world away from the genteel world of ballet.Īnd yet when we started documenting the different ways we, and the world around us, treat girls and boys we discovered they are the same, but different. Here they explain what is going on and how things are starting to change. The Gender Agenda by James Millar and Ros Ball is a first-hand account of how boys and girls are treated differently, written by two parents.Īdapted from a series of tweets and blogs from the popular it chronicles their growing discomfort of as they raise their son and daughter, while trying to sidestep the unwritten gender rules that society imposes from birth. Boys play with trucks and girls with dolls' houses so the ingrained is our concept of what boys and girls should and shouldn't do.