Glass Ceiling Begone

“That’s a boy thing” and “that class is just full of guys” are some of the most gender-biased, confidence-depleting and downright false statements that a girl, not knowing any better, could say.

Nothing should ever be put into classifications of what boys are capable of doing in comparison to girls. It’s 2019, folks. If you have a problem with a girl wanting to wrestle or take a woodshop class then you can go ahead and take a seat.

If you don’t believe me when I say that gender bias is real and alive, then let’s go ahead and take a look at the typical stereotypes for girls and guys.

A girl walks into a classroom with 24 sets of eyes looking up from their coding program on their computer and stare at the only female that has step foot in a computer class ever. She suddenly feels subjugated to explain why she’s taking that class in the first place, even when classes don’t have regulations for who can and can’t sign up.

In middle school it’s easy to take a new class that you’re interested in. You’re fresh out of elementary school where you’re limited to a preset class schedule and now you have the ability to choose from a range of classes like creative writing and sewing technology. A class about personal fitness? You didn’t even know that was a thing and it sounds like it was made for you.

If you’re wanting to learn about automation and robotics or study a new language and take French, nothing should be stopping you. You have the ability to explore what it feels like to take a new class, with everyone around you doing the exact same thing.

But in high school, it can be just a tad bit intimidating. You’ve already made one transition from elementary to middle school, and now you’re forced to take an even bigger leap and walk the same halls with thousands of high schoolers.

When picking out classes, it’s easy to fill the empty class slots on your sheet of paper with the so-called “comfort zone” of the stereotype you think you best fit into.

You’re a girl who plays soccer, tennis and lacrosse and you’re deciding between ceramics and team games. The ceramics class seems like the smarter route because all your girlfriends are taking it and team games is just another opportunity for “boys to be boys.”

Wrong. You take the team games class. High school classes are one of the easiest and best indicators of your passions –– you don’t have to fill out one of those pointless, time-consuming and utterly unhelpful “career cruising” forms on Skyward.

Who cares if boys try to dominate every class you’re interested in. If you are the only girl in a class of 20 boys, then more power to you.

The bottom line of it all is that whatever you may be passionate about, whether it’s writing a story for the “Freelancer” or staying after school on Wednesdays to run ping-pong club, you have the ability to choose what your story in all of this will be.

You have the ability to be that one girl in team games, the one filled with traumatizing junior boys, playing baseball or be the only girl in the computer coding class full of 24 sets of eyes that can’t seem to break their stare.

You have the ability to be the new and improved Billie Jean King of 2019, throwing yourself into situations that are seemingly controlled by boys –– changing the preset norms that surround our society and making your interests the top priority at the same time.

Gender bias will be a thing until the day that people take their head out of the patriarchy and realize that girls and boys can be put into the same classifications when it comes to passion and interests.

At the end of the day ladies, boys will be boys. We just have to find that little bit of confidence to tell us it really doesn’t matter as long as we’re happy with where we’re going.