‘Gender-neutral parenting could spare kids a lifetime of sexist treatment’

I was brought up believing it was one rule for girls and another for boys.

And as a Muslim girl, the rules were stricter – covering from how I sat and spoke, to who I could mix with and talk to.

I was the weaker sex. Inferior.

And, yes, some people might roll their eyes and dismiss it as PC-brigade nonsense.

But I wish gender-neutral parenting had been around when I was a kid.

I might then have been spared a lifetime of sexist treatment and discrimination in the workplace.

So I admire Jake England-Johns and Hobbit Humphrey who spoke out this week about parenting their 17-month-old child Anoush as gender-neutral.

The “neutral” refers to them trying to behave neutrally towards Anoush, rather than trying to make them neutral, Jake insists.

Children raised this way have equal access to toys, ­opportunities and ambitions. So dress your baby boys in pink, buy your girls trucks.

Let boys cry and show emotion. Let girls be opinionated, not “bossy”.

Gender-neutral parenting is catching on because it makes sense.

Celebs such as Paloma Faith and Kate Hudson adopt this approach.


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