International Women’s Days (IWD) March 8, 2010

March 8 was International Women’s Day. It was the perfect excuse to bring up gender roles and gender issues in my Dar Chebab. I went to class with the intentions of making mother’s day cards with my 13-year-old girls. The idea behind this was to give the girls the opportunity to think about all of the things their moms do for them and all of the work women do in general. This would hopefully give them the chance to really appreciate their mothers.

I brought stickers, colored paper, pens, markers, scissors etc. It was going to be an extravaganza. Class was supposed to start at 6 but 6:30 rolled around and no one had showed up. I was standing there stewing and relatively disappointed because I was really excited about the project.

In the meantime there were two 17-year-old boys hanging out in the room. As I paced back and forth they stopped me and said, “Miss Fauve, what is it you were going to do with the girls?”

I lethargically dragged over the supplies and began to explain the point of making cards for one’s mother. The boys picked up the paper and started drawing and writing messages to the important women in their lives. As they began their art projects more and more boys began to show up. With complete disregard to the fact that all of the stickers I brought were intended for girls (hearts, stars, flowers, humming birds, rainbows) the boys decorated their cards (and cell phones) with stickers and colorful designs. Most messages said something along the lines of , “I LOVE YOU MOM!” One card was particularly moving. It said, “Thank you mom for everything you do. I remember when I was little and you slept next to me when I was sick. I love you.” I was practically in tears, be it from the messages the boys were writing or the fact that the boys just ran with the project and didn’t feel too cool for it.

The real thing this showed me was all of the preconceived ideas I have about gender and gender roles myself. I brought stickers for girls and thought of card making as a girl’s activity. The fact that the boys would just as readily participate, use the supplies provided to them no matter what colors and images they were, was inconceivable to me, despite the fact that it is just as important, if not more, for the boys to think about the appreciation they have for the important women in their lives.