Culture

This Dad Sent An Incredible Letter To His Daughter’s School Over Some Very Weird Sexism

"When Ruby left for school yesterday it was 2017 but when she returned home in the afternoon she was from 1968."

by Rob Stott  7 December 2017
Letter

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When 12-year-old Ruby got home from school the other day, she was a bit upset. The year 6 student is about to graduate from her primary school in central western NSW, and there are some celebrations planned.

Ahead of the annual farewell dinner, the girls will head to the library to get their hair and makeup done, while the boys are being taken on a trip to Bunnings.

When a “pissed off” Ruby got home, she told her dad, Stephen Callaghan, about the school’s plans.

Stephen decided to fire a letter off to the school.

2FBS

It’s pretty incredible. So here it is in full:

Dear Principal, 

I must draw your attention to a serious incident which occurred yesterday at your school where my daughter Ruby is a year 6 student.

When Ruby left for school yesterday it was 2017 but when she returned home in the afternoon she was from 1968.

I know this to be the case as Ruby informed me that the “girls” in Year 6 would be attending the school library to get their hair and make-up done on Monday afternoon while the “boys” are going to Bunnings.

Are you able tos earch the school buildings for a rip in the space-time coninuum? Perhaps there is a faulty Flux Capacitor hidden away in the girls toilet block?

I look forward to this being rectified and my daughter and others girls at the school being returned to this millenium where schools activities are not divided among gender lives. 

Sincerely,

Stephen Callaghan

Callaghan says his daughter is “quite the feminist” and was “very indignant” when she came home.

“Ruby said she asked her (male) teacher if she could go to Bunnings as she doesn’t care about make-up. The teacher told her it was only for boys,” Stephen told Junkee.

“Ruby has since decided she would like her hair done but is still annoyed she wasn’t given a choice and more importantly she felt she was forced into a gender stereotype.”

When Stephen tweeted the letter yesterday, he was inundated with responses from parents saying similar incidents had also occurred at their children’s schools.

Stephen says the school hasn’t yet responded to the letter, but he doesn’t want to cause a scene as school celebrations commence. He just wants his daughter to be given the same opportunities as her male classmates.