Book: The Gender Agenda, Ros Ball & James Millar

• A girl in a frilly dress gets a lot of 'Don't you look lovely in your pretty dress!', etc. She obviously associates people appreciating her appearance with being liked. There isn't much discussion from visitors about what our boy is wearing or how pretty he looks. 
• Although girls and boys toys are segregated, girls have more freedom to play with so called 'boys toys.'
• 'only girls smile' tempted top assume that this might be to do with adverts and the general cultural messages about women's appearances.
• It seems more socially acceptable for girls to wear 'boys' clothes/colours.' Why is it so unacceptable for boys to be like girls at all?
• People so often repeat gender stereotypes despite people in their own experience contradicting them. That's why kids who have stay at home Dad's will still draw their Mum cooking because that is what they think a Mum is. 
• While a child's sex alone does not determine what is achievable, societies' (or parental) beliefs that girls and boys are innately different can limit their lives. 
• Even though the main character is Peppa, all the 'boys' clothes' have her brother George on. Boys can't be seen wearing the female character. 
• 'boys mobilise, girls socialise.' This is a mantra I've often shared, I think it's true to some extent, but not because of inherent differences, it's because sexes are treated differently from birth. 
• He says he's not concerned about which school his baby daughter will go to because girls have a different way of learning. His son however needs more structure because he's a boy. 
• Cordelia Fine's Delusions of Gender, 'Cultural realities and beliefs about females and males represented in existing inequalities; in commercials, in conversations; in the minds, expectations or behaviour of others; or primed in our own minds by the environment - alter our self-perception, interests and behaviour. 
• Cultural beliefs about gender act like a weight on the scale that modestly but systematically differentiates the behaviour and evaluations of otherwise similar men and women. 
• Geena Davis Research Institute - 'They found that the more hours of television a girl watches, the fewer options she believes she has in life, and the more hours a boy watches, the more sexist his views become.'
• A Cordelia Fine quote on pink and blue, 'So thoroughly have these preferences become ingrained that psychologists and journalists now speculate on the genetic and evolutionary origins of gendered colour preferences that are little more than fifty years old.'
• Just heard a UK survey shows, on average, boys get 32p more pocket money than girls. We start the gender pay gap in the home!
• Just seen a LEGO advert on Channel 4. It's about fathers and sons building together. I look forward to the one about mothers and daughters building together because that's a regular occurrence in our house. 
• Gender stereotypes are everywhere and are constantly reinforced. Regardless of our behaviour, our children's experience is made up of so much more than just words and actions of their parents. They interact with countless adults, children, books, toys, television, images, sights and sounds every day and all these interactions leave their imprint. 
• I find myself conflicted between promoting strong female role models and not being dismissive of 'girly' things. Complex thing. It can be a tricky path to tread between embracing 'feminine' things and heading down a path of traditional gender roles.