I have been raised up in a country where gender identity is valued as essential part of the education of a child. Not that they — my former con-nationals — are really aware of it. Rather it seems “natural” for a boy to be a boy, and for a girl to be a girl. That is to have specific roles in games, to wear cloths of society-acceptable colors (or rather not to wear pink for boys, since blue for girls is in someway allowed) and to play with gender-defined toys.
Religion has its responsibility. A strong clergy class is dominating the culture of the country, and its members are just men. Women are allowed to have servile roles, but male genitals are required to address the crowd in the name of god. Needless to say that the divinity itself is often referred to as Sir or Father.
Most people, god-believers or not, are scared to death at the idea that their gender identity could be questioned. Parents are imposing their gender prejudices on children, under severe surveillance by the family clan. A boy playing with a doll could be a serious threat for an Italian grandfather.
I am questioning my own beliefs, and asking myself how I will act as a parent — the day I will have some children. In Sweden, there are some preschools where the educational mission is to help pupils not to fall into gender stereotypes. Amazon has a full selection of gender neutral children books. And on the web is possible to read about mothers defending the right of their boys to wear pink or to dress up in the Halloween costumes their children love.
I think that a certain degree of gender identification is not avoidable. The price would be to keep the child isolated from the outside world, as these two stories: Storm and five year old Sasha. And I am not sure this isolation would serve the purpose. I have met some parents who are never dressing up their daughters with skirts and flowers, however what if the girl wants to be a princess? Any imposition of an idea, being the stereotypical gender division or the scientific application of a well-planned neutrality, could lead to abnormal results. I believe that each person should be free to develop an identity, and to change it, as they please. How to help a child to be what s/he wants to be, this I still have to learn.
Very well put! It is not a easy question! But very interesting
Thank you, Bella. I guess that there is no a single well defined answer, but rather a range of opportunities.
What is the conclusion? Sweden, for example, has about 9 million population, that is nearly 0% of the world population. Can then one think that swedish experiments in education of children have considerable global significance?
Gender identity and gender roles in children education are debated in several countries, even though I recognize that in Sweden the sensitivity is higher on these topics. I have read, in these days, the latest report on Innovation prepared by the European Commission (http://www.proinno-europe.eu/inno-metrics/page/innovation-union-scoreboard-2011): Sweden is the best performing country. I wonder how intellectual assets and innovation are related to a less strict identification of roles in society. A situation maybe similar to the Hellenic world in the times of birth for democracy and modernity.
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