Here is a riddle for you: A father and a son are in a car accident, the father does not survive and the son is badly injured. An ambulance takes the son to the hospital where the surgeon cries out, ‘’I cannot operate, because this boy is my son’’. Who is the surgeon?
Confused? I was too the first time I heard the riddle. Soooooo confused. I couldn’t understand who the surgeon was because his father was clearly dead. The answer: His mum of course. Not his grandfather or uncle or some other male relative, or a ghost (that was a true response, ha ha).
On reflection that is the obvious answer, but most people like myself carry unconscious bias about gender and specific roles which males and females play in society, or the jobs which they perform. Why do we automatically think ‘he’ when we talk about a government official or an engineer? Why do we automatically think ‘she’ when someone refers to a receptionist or team assistant? History shows that these roles may have been done in majority strictly by males or females in the past, but things have changed a lot in the last 30 years globally. I am sure many of us are now aware or personally know male nurses, female engineers and mathematicians, male receptionists, female mechanics and bus drivers etc. The US statistic is that 1/3 or surgeons are women and in Nigeria, the number of female doctors are not a minority in the set of doctors, so why do these biases remain?
More importantly, how can we change mindsets? As we drive towards #genderequality and seek to right the balance for ourselves and our children (male and female), in our work places and at home, it is important for us all (male and female) to look inward and seek to understand the biases that we carry in us, to ensure that we aren’t feeding them forward to our future generations.
On reflection that is the obvious answer, but most people like myself carry unconscious bias about gender and specific roles which males and females play in society, or the jobs which they perform. Why do we automatically think ‘he’ when we talk about a government official or an engineer? Why do we automatically think ‘she’ when someone refers to a receptionist or team assistant? History shows that these roles may have been done in majority strictly by males or females in the past, but things have changed a lot in the last 30 years globally. I am sure many of us are now aware or personally know male nurses, female engineers and mathematicians, male receptionists, female mechanics and bus drivers etc. The US statistic is that 1/3 or surgeons are women and in Nigeria, the number of female doctors are not a minority in the set of doctors, so why do these biases remain?
More importantly, how can we change mindsets? As we drive towards #genderequality and seek to right the balance for ourselves and our children (male and female), in our work places and at home, it is important for us all (male and female) to look inward and seek to understand the biases that we carry in us, to ensure that we aren’t feeding them forward to our future generations.
I envision a world where our children hear that riddle and think instinctively, his mum of course, duhhhh!!! That would be an absolute result. So lets all lean in and do our bit 😀. As the saying goes, little drops of water.......
P.S: I am so curious to hear what your initial thought of who the surgeon was when you heard the riddle. It will be fun to know. Inbox me if you are too shy
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