Be Gender Smart

Barbies are silly. Lego is good. Choosing psychology is not good for your career. Choosing science and technology is good. That’s not a message that helps people grow; it’s a message that encourages people to deny important parts of themselves.

Growing up in the Netherlands in the seventies, the message for me was loud and clear, “You are the same and you can aspire to the same as the boys”. Some of you may wish you had heard such a wonderful message when you grew up, but in reality it wasn’t very helpful. I ignored many parts of me – the parts of me that didn’t fit that picture. It’s a lie that we are the same. Yes, girls can do the same as boys, but they will most likely do it differently. I am not saying that everyone gets damaged by it, but in the messages from society I heard, I thought I had to aspire to what boys aspired to.