It's quite simple really, men do the work, and women stay at home. That it what my father was taught when he was growing up.That is what my mother was taught when she was growing up.
When I was growing up, my mother and father taught me differently. They taught me anyone can do anything, men do not have to grill on Sundays, watch football, or drive a truck. Women do not have to stay at home, go to book clubs, or drive their daughter to her soccer game in a mini van.
And yet, even today, signs like this one exist. Signs that say men work and women stay at home.
This sign communicates to the entire population, both men and women, that men are the ones to do manual labor. This sign teaches all who see it that men are more fit to do work, women are weak, and that there is no place for women at a construction site. Except perhaps to bring her man a brown paper bag lunch.
The part of this image that stood out to me was the correction made by a random pedestrian. "People working above". Once this sign has been changed,the meaning behind it changes. Suddenly, its a pinnacle of equality.
Of course there probably will not be a woman working "above" anytime soon. This is because even though the sign has changed, the teachings have not. Children, in many parts of the most 'liberal and developed" place in the world are still being taught that it is not a woman's place to work in construction. But how to stop this? Unfortunately, it is an uphill battle. Those of us who are "forward thinking" are battling hundreds of thousands of years of traditional. Wrong tradition, but tradition nonetheless. It is going to be a long fight, but I am confident that one day women will have the same rights as men and be seen as equals.
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