There's a Good Girl by Marianne Grabrucker

In the years since, there has been obvious progress towards gender equality in the adult world. Second-wave feminists of the 60s and 70s had analysed gender roles and kickstarted a trend for non-sexist parenting, built on a determination to bring up children free to embrace what interested them – be it maths, construction and cars for girls, or fashion, dolls and cookery for boys. At the time Grabrucker was keeping the diary, these stereotypes were under attack, and seemed likely to weaken in future or even sputter out entirely. The book was an international bestseller when first published in the 80s, and charts the gender stereotypes Grabrucker's daughter Anneli was subject to, starting from her birth in August 1981. Not long afterwards, Ball saw two different children's TV programmes, in quick succession, featuring male characters who were deeply embarrassed to be seen wearing the colour pink.īall was inspired to start the project after reading There's a Good Girl by the German lawyer and writer Marianne Grabrucker. The next day, when Josie was shown around the nursery she would be attending, a table covered in cars was described specifically as 'the boys' corner'. One of these boys then chose a flashing torch, in pink, for himself, to which the stallholder responded: 'Shall I get you that in blue?' The boy, aged about five, readily agreed to the swap. On the first day, they went to a pantomime with a toy stall, where Josie's older male cousins directed her straight towards the sort of item supposedly beloved of small girls: a fluffy pink tiara.

The results were tweeted under the title Baby Gender Diary, and Ball, a broadcast journalist who lives in London, couldn't believe how much there was to write about. They wanted to record the moments when their children were made aware of gender stereotypes when they were directed towards a view of the world in which girls and boys inhabit separate, rigid spheres of pink and blue – the first sphere passive, pretty and gentle, the second aggressive, active and strong. Their daughter Josie was three and their son Clem three months old.

T hree years ago, while she was on maternity leave, Ros Ball and her partner, James, began a diary of their children's lives.

There's a Good Girl by Marianne Grabrucker