At the \u201cEgalia\u201d preschool, staff avoid using words like \u201chim\u201d or \u201cher\u201d and address the 33 kids as \u201cfriends\u201d rather than girls and boys.<\/p>\n
From the color and placement of toys to the choice of books, every detail has been carefully planned to make sure the children don\u2019t fall into gender stereotypes.<\/p>\n
\u201cSociety expects girls to be girlie, nice and pretty and boys to be manly, rough and outgoing,\u201d says Jenny Johnsson, a 31-year-old teacher. \u201cEgalia gives them a fantastic opportunity to be whoever they want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
The taxpayer-funded preschool which opened last year in the liberal Sodermalm district of Stockholm for kids aged 1 to 6 is among the most radical examples of Sweden\u2019s efforts to engineer equality between the sexes from childhood onward.<\/p>\n
Breaking down gender roles is a core mission in the national curriculum for preschools, underpinned by the theory that even in highly egalitarian-minded Sweden, society gives boys an unfair edge.<\/p>\n
To even things out, many preschools have hired \u201cgender pedagogues\u201d to help staff identify language and behavior that risk reinforcing stereotypes.<\/p>\n
Some parents worry things have gone too far. An obsession with obliterating gender roles, they say, could make the children confused and ill-prepared to face the world outside kindergarten.<\/p>\n
\u201cDifferent gender roles aren\u2019t problematic as long as they are equally valued,\u201d says Tanja Bergkvist, a 37-year-old blogger and a leading voice against what she calls \u201cgender madness\u201d in Sweden.<\/p>\n
Those bent on shattering gender roles \u201csay there\u2019s a hierarchy where everything that boys do is given higher value, but I wonder who decides that it has higher value,\u201d she says. \u201cWhy is there higher value in playing with cars?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Read the rest.<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The mind boggles: At the \u201cEgalia\u201d preschool, staff avoid using words like \u201chim\u201d or \u201cher\u201d and address the 33 kids as \u201cfriends\u201d rather than girls and boys. From the color and placement of toys to the choice of books, every detail has been carefully planned to make sure the children don\u2019t fall into gender stereotypes. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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