Girl Power #1

Since becoming older and becoming more aware of what's going on in the world, especially since going to university, I have noticed that so many girls/women don't believe that they can do what the boys do. I don't only mean in terms of business and work but also in terms of sports etc. Growing up I was never exposed to this idea that girls shouldn't be playing football, rolling in the mud or building dens in the forest. Never had anyone told me that I should wear dresses or play with Barbies and thank God for that because as a child those were the two things I detested the most. Instead my mam would dress me in leopard print leggings, doc martens and my brother's old clothes while I played outside all day with my brother and his friends. I remember spending days and days playing football, rugby, cricket and our own DIY versions of hurling and gallic football and just thinking that this was what every girl did. This belief was probably made stronger by the fact that most of my girl friends at that time were similar to me in that we would all go mountain biking or swim in the river. Best time ever!

Even in secondary school, especially with my close friends, the topic of not doing the same as the boys never came up. Myself and Carwen played rugby and would regularly play with the boys, there was never that conversation of 'is it really our place to play?'. University is where I saw how limiting believing that you shouldn't do what the boys are doing is for the first time. In mixed Lacrosse training girls would be scared to go and tackle the boys or they would giggle and have hardly any confidence in their own abilities when the male sex were within a 100 meter radius which, baffled me to say the least. Even when it comes to lifting weights in the gym I would see girls peering over as if they wished to be able to step into the weights area. 99% of mornings when I hit the gym I would be the only girl in the weights room and it's not something I really thought about until some of my friends were asking if they could join me and lift some weights - a question that made me very confused. Of course they could, there is not a sign in the area that reads 'only boys aloud'. There is no such sign in the majority of society so why then do girls feel like they can't do what the boys can do?

Actually, thinking about it, I really don't think that they don't believe in themselves I genuinely believe that they are just conforming to a social construct that separates what boys should do/wear and what girls should do/wear. A load of bull if you ask me. Maybe it's a result of growing up with strong female figures in my life who do what they want to do and don't let anyone stop them. My grandmother and my mam were the ones that went to watch the rugby every friday night while my dad and granddad would stay at home. Thus, this whole constricting gender ideal is something that I thankfully was not exposed to when I was younger and I truly hope that in the future every girl and boy can choose what they want to do without being told that that's not what they should be doing. 

Here's a video I watched last night which sparked the idea for this post. It's a Ted talk by gnarly female skater Cindy Whitehead who I absolutely look up to and I think you should have a listen to what she has to say.