Painting the future with gender Diversity

By: Nasirah Bailey

May 3, 2019

How many genders are there?

As more genders have started to become acknowledged by the public social media platforms have also started to acknowledge them too. There are 58 genders listed for Facebook users. On Instagram the option to choose a gender is optional and it ranges from male, female, and not specified. Forms at the doctor’s office or at school just list male/female/other/Prefer not to answer.

what does our future look like?

Since the spectrum for gender roles have already begin to widen, in the future we'll be looking at a completely different future. Will we get rid of boy and girl bathrooms altogether? When taking quizzes and questionnaires will the gender lists become longer? Will gender become a conversation starter when meeting someone new?

Future for gender roles and double standards?

Gender roles are the role played by a person as appropriate to their gender, determined by the prevailing cultural norms. Double standards are a rule or principle which is unfairly applied in different ways to different people or groups. In the past and still in the present these things are how people run their lives, dependent upon these things, living their lives day by day based on their gender and what the norm is for their gender. However in the future they will no longer matter, you can see this beginning to happen today. People are defiant towards gender roles. Youth and young people are calling out double standards as we evolve into doing things or becoming who we are based off of self character instead of the norm.

A college Made for women

I interviewed two women from an all girls college, Bryn Mawr. Emily George and Moreen McGrath informed me how very different it is to go to an all girls school versus a school with both women and men. The college they go to was specifically made for women. Because their school was specifically made for women, they can feel the difference -- in desk heights, and even the height of the stairs. At night or coming back from the gym, they feel safe there. Since Bryn Mawr also has classes with Haverford College, when they are in mixed gender classes, the women notice that the men often take control. These young women, who are interested in becoming teachers themselves, know that gender is powerful in the classroom.

However, they were quick to point out that now there people of many genders there. The Bryn Mawr College website also explains, “as a women's college, we recognize that society's understanding of human diversity is evolving and that this diversity includes a range of gender identities and expressions. The Bryn Mawr community (comprised of faculty, staff, students, alumnae/i and student parents) includes members who are and who identify as transgender, non-binary and gender nonconforming.”