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."
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.
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.
My kids also had colouring-in sheets handed out once during a rained in lunch period with princesses and superheroes. Naturally they pulled the teacher up on their error very politely — as expected for girls (though inwardly truly exasperated!). https://t.co/PXDfCzL7vr
— Tasmin Waby (@TravellingTaz) December 6, 2017
Good on you – reminds me of my primary school in the early 70's where the girls did embroidery while the boys did sport. At least embroidery involved a skill though.
— Robyn Thompson (@robyn_thompson) December 7, 2017
Yeah, they do this crap at my kid's holiday care thing. The boys have 'unbelievably amazing adventure day' (I'm paraphrasing) and meanwhile the girls have 'makeover day'.
— Jamie Q Roberts (@Jamieqroberts) December 6, 2017
went to a girls college and we only had classes like home economics and sewing… while the boys college had metal, woodworking and engineering… this was 2008 my last year…think it's still like that cos my lil sis goes there pic.twitter.com/GcFTwCyAb1
— ✨Annabelle✨ (@AnnabelleLui) December 6, 2017
We hope that your daughter gets to go to the @Bunnings DIY workshop (along with any of her friends who want to go too) #womeninSTEM https://t.co/9df0WjUOzA
— NationalScienceWeek (@Aus_ScienceWeek) December 6, 2017
This reminds me of Women In Aviation Week a few years ago, where an event event invitation ended with “Ladies: Bring a plate.” I wrote back and suggested that maybe they mistyped “plane,” and should issue a correction.
— Mark Newton ??? (@NewtonMark) December 6, 2017
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.