Laura Duksaitė | My daughter is a future administrator, my son is a manager

– This is our future office administrator,” says the CEO of a large company, proudly introducing his kindergarten daughter as he shows her around his office.

Another office. Another meeting.

– Here will be the karting track, where colleagues will be able to drive cars, feel the speed and the excitement. We are still wondering, what will the women do? Maybe they should have a spa area? – Another manager outlines the plans for the launch.

Both leaders are genuinely concerned about the future of the people they care about, whether they are their children or their employees.

So why did these conversations stick with me?

Because in addition to the sound of concern, there are also traces of stereotypes.

Girls who come to their dad’s office are introduced as future office administrators, but their dad does not say that she came to my office today and that today she is going to “play” the game of a financial manager, a company manager, and not an office administrator.

Male colleagues – in the office, you need fun activities, excitement and addictive games. For women – a quiet corner to relax, maybe a spa or massage…

BBC experiment

It reminded me of an experiment the BBC did.

Volunteers come into a room with a child they don’t know and a bunch of toys, and have to occupy the child for a few minutes with play.

It turned out that the toys and activities offered were highly correlated with whether the child in the room was a boy or a girl.

Girls were encouraged to look at soft, cuddly toys and dolls, and to play more sedentary games.
Whereas boys were encouraged to build, contour, move, ride, and play more mobile games.

Surprised by the stereotypical reaction

Volunteers interviewed after the experiment were very surprised by their reactions to the toys they chose, as most of them felt that they were not gender stereotyped.

There are many such studies.

Girls are taught from infancy to be gentle, obedient and beautiful. Their toys are about beautifying, caring and domesticity.

Boys are encouraged to try, to build, to make mistakes, to not be afraid, to explore. Their toys teach them to fight, to play sports, to move, to compete, to take risks.

The game thing is serious

But the game is serious.

As adults, everyone already “knows” his or her place or that of his or her children: you will be the leader. And you are the office administrator.