Reaffirming Gender Roles

Two interesting things happened over the last few days which reminded me of how entrenched we are in traditional gender roles. First, my husband and I took our youngest child, who is autistic, to a specialist. Nearly all of the questions the doctor asked were directed to me. Dear old Dad could have been a doorpost considering the number of questions directed at him. Second, I ditched a local activist group meeting in order to attend a parent meeting for those of us who have special needs kids. Fifteen mothers came. Four dads came, too. Three of them sat removed from the circle. None of them spoke, not even to introduce themselves. Interesting, yes?