If you’re travelling by Stagecoach, then you may have noticed a small but significant advert, which seems to make some serious assumptions about all of us. Branwen Mair, Plaid Cymru Youth’s Women’s Officer, discusses the out-dated habit of gender stereotyping, still underlying our society.
Blue or pink?
Builder or nurse?
Gender stereotyping has long disappeared, right?!
I was never one to dream of being a nurse or a flight attendant either, to be honest. And I’m pretty sure my brothers’ only aim in life was to become builders or lawyers. But, according to Stagecoach Wales’ most recent advertisement, if I would ever like to indulge in their most recent discount my only option would be to stick to the same old fashioned and belittling habit of gender stereotyping.
As part of a recent campaign advertising 33% discount to young people, Stagecoach Wales has pictured two boys and two girls. Two blondes and two with brown hair. All four are white. And all four have succeeded in finding an occupation fitting their gender. Great!
When a successful bus company, such as Stagecoach Wales, finds it impossible to avoid old habits of gender stereotyping, what hope is there for the rest of us? We will never aim to reach beyond those stereotypes and aim for anything but the tired, old nor. Yes, years have passed since the equality act was made law. But, give that advertisement one good look and you’ll swear that you were back in the 1970s when the law was first passed. My only hope, therefore, is to work as a nurse (or flight attendant, dinner lady, cleaner, waitress), until I marry (and marry young I shall), raise a family (one boy, one girl) and look after my husband’s home (he a successful lawyer, naturally).
No thanks, Stagecoach Wales. My dreams are bigger, and I aim for a better and fairer society, where gender isn’t a question. Therefore, without doubt I will not be following your old, tired ideals of gender stereotyping and I, most definitely, will not be taking you up on you 33% discount offer either.
