It seems counter-intuitive that a world that is arguably more messed up than ever would have so many "woke" people. Certainly, political correctness is entering a veritable renaissance, with people from all walks of life finally taking notice of how ingrained sexism,
racism and
homophobia are in society.
However, as we have seen in recent months, the work is most definitely
not over. The
sexual harassment and assault scandals which have dominated our headlines for months now are a clear testament to that, but so are the events that occurred in Charlottesville in August of this year, as well as the issue of police brutality against black people - a matter which has plagued America for years, if not decades.
It's easy to become jaded in such a climate. But, we need to remind ourselves to celebrate the small successes. Case in point: an Australian father has gone viral after penning a letter calling out his daughter's school for some good, ole fashioned sexism.
Stephen Callaghan, a father from Australia, has gone viral for calling out his 12-year-old daughter's school for being sexist in a rather hilarious way.
Callaghan felt compelled to write to the school after discovering that his young daughter, Ruby, and her female classmates were made to take part in a "makeover" day, while the boys went on a trip to chain hardware stores, Bunnings, during the school's "Year 6 Boy's and Girl's day".
The letter, which he shared on Twitter, read:
"I must draw your attention to a serious incident which occurred yesterday at your school where my daughter Ruby is a Year 6 student.
"When Ruby left for school yesterday it was 2017 but when she returned home in the afternoon she was from 1968.
"I know this to be the case Ruby informed me that the "girls" in Year 6 would be attending the school library to get their hair and make-up done on Monday afternoon while the "boys" are going to Bunnings.
"Are you able to search the school buildings for a rip in the space-time continuum? Perhaps there is a faulty Flux Capacitor hidden away in the girls toilet block?
"I look forward to this being rectified and my daughter and other girls at the school being returned to this millennium where school activities are not divided sharply along gender lines."
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And naturally, Twitter had quite the field-day with Stephen Callaghan's explosive letter. One user wrote, "Yeah, they do this crap at my kid's holiday care thing. The boys have 'unbelievably amazing adventure day' (I'm paraphrasing) and meanwhile the girls have 'makeover day'," while another urged young Ruby to always stick up for herself, "Tell Ruby, to always stand tall and be proud. There is NOTHING in this world she can’t do, achieve, learn if she wants it. Keep banging down doors, don’t take no for an answer".
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Stephen and his daughter were overwhelmed with the response that the post garnered, and returned to the social media platform to thank people for their support. Stephen wrote:
"Ruby and I would like to thank you for the great comments of support. At 12 years of age my daughter is starting to notice there are plenty of people prepared to tell her what she can & can't do based solely on the fact she is female. She would like this to change. So would I."
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Yes, it is rather worrying that places of education still uphold and perpetuate gender stereotypes such as these, especially when they're forced upon the youngest and most impressionable members of our society.
