By: Blonde Two

I have recently been very much enjoying some ‘feminist’ type chats with my new outdoor swimming friends. I put ‘feminist’ in quotes here because it isn’t a word I usually like and it doesn’t really fit what we have been saying; I am very much a ‘vive la difference’ type of girl. Boys and girls are different, have different talents and, in my experience, make good teams in combination.

However, it is clear that there are also differences in opportunities (and these exist both ways) that make it harder for men/women to work in certain occupations/enjoy certain privileges.

Which all got me thinking about Christmas presents. I was a maternal girl who liked lego and trains. I have my mum to thank for this; she was a most excellent mother who ensured that we had equal exposure to ‘girl toys’ and ‘boy toys’, mainly I think because she also liked both. When Six-Foot-Blonde was a curly haired toddler, his other Nanny bought him a doll (I was expecting his sister ‘Not-At-All-Blonde’ at the time). Six-Foot loved this doll and cared for it with great love and affection (he also, a bit later in life, enjoyed wearing his sister’s tutu). A few years later I took him out just before Christmas and bought him an axe because he and his brother were fighting over the single offering we possessed.

Axe Table

It is easy these days to buy Christmas presents for our children. They mostly consist of stuff to use outside and our Christmas floors are often covered in torches, hats, merino socks, survival blankets and yes, we are still buying axes.

So the moral of my Blonde tale is this; buy your daughters dolls but buy them axes as well. Just imagine the women they will grow up to be!