Thursday, March 23, 2017

#Resist – and how: The Story of Alice


Alice in Wonderland is the most popular statue in all of Central Park. I have never seen her without someone admiring or climbing on her.

A few months ago, a study reported that by the time little girls were six years old, they doubted that women could be brilliant. At age 5, sure, anything goes and of course a woman can be brilliant. In growing older by one year, all of that changes. Girls doubt. Boys don’t. Here’s a nice summary of that study. http://nbcnews.to/2jmRQPS

Did you know that there are 29 statues in Central Park? Five of them are women and one is a dog (second most popular). The rest are men. What I propose is that you ask kids—girls AND boys—if they think this is fair. Then ask them what they think should be done. I predict the most surprising answers—and that you will have planted the seeds of gender equity. Neat.


Let me leave you with this one final thought. All of the women statues in Central Park are imaginary beings. All of the men statues are historical figures. Even the dog is a historical figure--Balto.

No comments:

Post a Comment