gender Archives - zaparents

“Mommy, this curvy Barbie looks like you!”

by Tiffany Markman | gender, parenting, products, reviews, social issues, toys | 0 comments

A huge chunk of me is thrilled to bits with Fashionista® Barbies, and their diverse body shapes, skin tones, and hairstyles. A small chunk of me is irritated that it’s taken so long and that we’re still not quite there. But my girls, 6 and 13 years old respectively, are largely pleased. So there’s that.

Honour all children on Mandela Day, including your own

by Mia Von Scha | gender, giving, human rights, social issues | 0 comments

We need some advocates, like Mandela, who will fight for the right of children to be seen as fully human and fully deserving of our respect, kindness and protection. We, the parents, are those advocates. The change starts at home. So here are some suggestions.

Women’s Day – “Dresses are preferred”

by Sholain Govender-Bateman | culture, gender | 0 comments

There is something fundamentally wrong with a school giving their female students a civvies day treat for Women’s Day but then saying “the dress-code is smart-casual, but of course, dresses are preferred…”.

6 tips for raising strong daughters

by Tiffany Markman | culture, gender | 7 comments

Recent research about women and business isn’t pretty. We’re comparatively worse than men at negotiations and navigating the challenges of the workplace…

Raising boys for my girls

by Mia Von Scha | gender, Uncategorized, violence | 23 comments

I’m the proud mother of two girls. It’s something I boast about.but the truth is, that having girls makes me more, not less, concerned with the raising of boys. I want my girls one day to find a man who has empathy and kindness and can work out relationship problems with maturity and is in touch with his emotions not bottling them up and then exploding.

Mama, why can’t girls be the president of South Africa ?

by Sholain Govender-Bateman | gender | 4 comments

Yesterday my 6 year old daughter asked me: “Mama, why can’t girls be the president of South Africa?”

I immediately told Isobel that girls can certainly be president if they wanted to and we went on to have a chat…

“But I only want to wear dresses!”

by Tiffany Markman | gender | 20 comments

If you were to overhear the arguments that go on in my house every morning, you’d think I was parenting a teenager with actual fashion sense. Not an almost-three-year-old with bizarre Disney-fed ideas of what princesses wear.

Would you put your naked toddler in a magazine?

by Tiffany Markman | culture, gender | 30 comments

The specific picture I’m concerned with is the one titled ‘MOTHER & CHILD’. It’s a lovely image, featuring beautiful Lee-Ann Liebenberg and her two-year-old, Gia…

How to talk to your children about rape

by Mia Von Scha | gender, violence | 16 comments

The idea of Rape Awareness is a problem because it focuses on something negative that creates fear, anger, rage and more negativity…

Caster Semenya – a little girl lost

by Laura Kim | gender | 7 comments

As a parent, we teach our children acceptance. We teach them to accept themselves, their faults and their strengths. We teach them that different is simple that – its different. Not bad or wrong – just different.