My eight yr old daughter has been captivated by Project Petra, Blue Peter's project to find the best spy, cos she thinks she can be a good one. Obvs I agree. Anyway, for the last few wks, she's been watching and in the penultimate round, three (or was it two) clever bright girls got eliminated, and three boys won, even though the girls got top scores in the Q&A re observation. (One boy was the outright winner, but he was older). The boy, Finlay, hardly got any questions right at this stage, however, during the last part, the interview stage where the girls performed very well and gave thoughtful resumes, he charmed the Judges with a joke. Now, there is no denying that Finlay is likeable. But the girls are too, and they got more of the questions right, and they participated more in the previous group activities. So, my question is: Is Blue Peter sexist? I have known and heard about the thousands of examples of where bright, clever, diligent, thoughtful, team playing lovely girls miss out on a chance because the boy appears to be more charming/personable. Now, there is no denying that being charming/personable is a good thing, however, when actual clear intelligence has been shown by the girls, and they were personable as well, then surely, they should have won/got though? And the final stage was not even a test - it was the prize - of exploring the M15 building and interviewing the Director General. Surely the clever intelligent girls could have had this chance? As my disappointed daughter said 'It's not fair - the girls were cleverer and they solved more puzzles.' I have to agree. Anyone else see this? Is Blue Peter unintentionally sexist?
Feminism: Sex and gender discussions
Hi, I watched this the other day with my dd (also 8yo) and she said she was upset and angry that no girls had been chosen. Unfortunately I hadn't seen the selection process, so wasn't able to back her up by saying what you say above (that the girls had done very well and there didn't seem to be any reason not to pick them).
I note that the presenters were 2:1 male:female too. Is that still the norm for BP?
At least Iggy is a girl 
This reply has been deleted
Message withdrawn at poster's request.
It sounds like winning was pretty subjective - so not like a maths test and who got most wins but more based on non-tangible skills, and the girls all did well or better than the boys at the tangible stuff. So, it came down to a matter of opinion rather than "you got 10 out of 15 so you win" IYSWIM.
Anyway yes. So it hinges on whether it was a genuine competition or if MI5 were using it to get themselves into the minds of children for future recruitment. If the former, and the message "this is not for girls" is acceptable, then fine. If the latter, and given that they want more women, then they fucked it up big-time.
Like advertising for jobs - if you want eg more ethic minority women then you show ethnic minority women doing it, so that people think "people like me can do that maybe I'll try it". And you do that even if the true picture of the people doing it is that they are invariably middle aged white blokes. If they want more females applying, and this was a tool to encourage that in future, then they cocked it up didn't they.
It's interesting.
Is it a shame for all the female children watching that out of 5, the 3 boys won, yes, it is a shame. Still, maybe sets them up for life, eh
If it's a competition, the best candidate has to win. That's the only fair thing to ALL the candidates. If it's actually not a competition but a way to show that women can work for MI5 too, then maybe a competition isn't the right way to do it if you simply intend to fiddle it so that a girl wins no matter what 
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.