Yesterdays.....

[Essjay67 182]

Like Jennet I didn't behave as a child in the way expected of girls. I was given dolls to play with but I much preferred cars and trains. The Christmas I was 7 my mother had pneumonia so my father had to do the present shopping and he bought me a huge tip-up truck. As a pre-teen I sent most of my time outdoors, my favourite occupation being climbing trees.
Fast forward to 18 and more than one female classmate said to me - why are you going to to university to study chemistry, that's a boys' subject. I was in an unusual year as a third of my uni chemistry classmates were female rather than the usual one or two. After I married (to a fellow chemistry classmate) I was the one who did the DIY around the house. On the one occasion my husband did some, our toddler son asked his father why he was using mummy's drill. I've done virtually all the decorating over the years, except for woodwork as I always end up with runs in the paint. And it's my husband who chooses the colours and decor not me!

 

[GaryE28 26]

I've always been partial to the idea we should raise boys like we raise girls. I worked with so many spoiled, entitled and functionally helpless boys whose sisters were hard working, resourceful and tougher minded. The "my boy" type spent their school years looking for girls to do their work for them, and unfortunately often found them.
We were supposed to organize a lot of group work, but that far too often had girls working in groups and guys freeloading. It was always an interesting phenomenon, as both parents usually had bought into it.

When I taught in a college, we took in 55% males post High School, but 2 or 3 years later, depending on the program, we graduated 56% women.

I'm sure it varies across cultures, but I found it interesting to watch, as a boy myself. I really had to look at some things in how I was brought up.