Colm O'Regan: Breaking the bias - one fairy tale at a time
In 2020, around International Women’s Day, I was asking Two and Four about what it means to be a girl. Two was still establishing her identity and digesting jammy hyper-toast and jumping up and down shouting "I’M NOT A GIRL, I’M A LITTLE BABY". Four said, “Being a girl means getting to wear tights a lot.” But “boys can wear tights as well”.
This time I’m asking Four and Six whether they see bias against girls. It’s always a tricky thing asking small children about a big question because there is the fear that asking the question is the first time they’ve heard of it and now their lovely unspoilt brain has to deal with some grown-up shite not of their creation, but (un)happily they’re already well aware of it.
