To think they should separate girls and boys on sports day

[EmergencyHaribo]

I wasn't sure if I should post this in feminism but I sort of wanted everyones opinions. I've NC.

DS (6) came home from his sports day today and was really excited that he'd won an event and mentioned some of his friends (all boys) who had also won events. We celebrated all of their achievements then I asked if any of his girl friends had won anything. He said it was only boys who had won events and that it was because the girls weren't strong enough.

I was horrified at this as I've never brought him up to think anything like this and challenged him. He said that that's what the girls were saying amongst themselves after the events were finished.

This made me so sad. I hate to think that girls feel this way about themselves. I know some people believe that 6 year olds are physically the same despite their sex and that it is down to socialisation; boys being encouraged to be physical and girls being encouraged into less physical pursuits, but I sort of feel this is irrelevant at this stage, because now they are seeing evidence that 'boys are stronger'.

AIBU to think that it makes sense to separate them by sex for the events so there was a boy winner and girl winner for each event? And each could be celebrated for their strength?

They don’t????. My 3 year olds nursery sports days wasn’t mixed. I suppose this is the same as the gender neutral toilets. ‘Let’s not address the real issue just make everyone equal”. Except it does the opposite by disadvantaging girls!

I felt this too when I saw my daughter’s report today which had her as “age appropriate” for PE. She’s really sporty; the best girl at sports in her class. But there are about 6 boys who can outperform her. The differences aren’t huge until puberty but they do still count at primary level. Not sure what we can do though - eg girls consistently outperform boys in reading and most academic subjects

Our school did apart from group events which had a mix on each team

They don't shove all the olympic athletes in one group so there's obviously a difference so yes, they should be seperate.

I agree. In primary school my ds said they'd play football with boys and girls and the girls wouldn't even get a touch at the ball.

Or at least run the race at the same time and have a girl winner and a boy winner

And anyone who is undecided can count in either

We've always had boys' and girls' races at every primary school I've worked at. There are many girls who are bigger, faster and stronger than the boys at this age of course but yes, we've always had separate races.

@Penistoe

They don’t????. My 3 year olds nursery sports days wasn’t mixed. I suppose this is the same as the gender neutral toilets. ‘Let’s not address the real issue just make everyone equal”. Except it does the opposite by disadvantaging girls!

I agree. I hope more people show up to say their schools and nurseries do the same and it's just our school doing this.

You should complain to that school.

Sex segregation is objectively justified here. Not in eg calling the register or lining up, or using pink vs blue folders (all real-life face palm examples I've witnessed!).

@Comedycook

I agree. In primary school my ds said they'd play football with boys and girls and the girls wouldn't even get a touch at the ball.

Football is a whole issue on its own - it’s all bound up with self worth and gender stereotypes and all that. I read an ethnographic report into football in primary schools which described it exactly - girls not allowed to touch the ball, forced off the pitch to the edges of the playground.

I suppose it depends on what they are good at Dd could and had swan 2 miles non-stop at age 9 and would easily have out swam anyone in her school male or female (if they did swimming, which they don't). Running a race, despite being head and shoulders above her peers she would come middle of the group.

Our school at that age ran pre sports day heats and ‘streamed’ based on ability rather than B/G. Worked well for all.

@Uramaki

They don't shove all the olympic athletes in one group so there's obviously a difference so yes, they should be seperate.

That's adults though

Our infant school had a non competitive sports day so they didn’t need to keep girls and boys apart, mixed groups going round the field taking part in different activities like little relays, shooting goals, obstacles etc.Junior school (years3 to 6) were girls and boys races.

@Grellbunt

You should complain to that school.

Sex segregation is objectively justified here. Not in eg calling the register or lining up, or using pink vs blue folders (all real-life face palm examples I've witnessed!).

I would be happy to complain to the school about this.

Hopefully with me having a boy it would mean more to them as they wouldn't just think I was bitter about it (which the girls' mums have every right to be IMO).

Autocorrect fail swam*

Our primary school always separated by sex the running races. The other sports were obstacle type things where they won points for their house rather than individual races.

They separate them at our primary school. However I remember taking great pleasure in the fact that I could out run and out swim all the boys in my class til I was 11 or so. Made up for my compete ineptitude at anything involving a ball.

Ours have always done mixed team relay events - so one child is running dropping a bean bag, running back, next child runs picks up the bean bag, runs back etc.

There is only one left hung they compete in individually, which is the sprint, and that is separates into the boys and the girls race

I didn't think differences in sports performance emerged until males entered puberty?

The 2 primary schools and 1 preschool my dc are at all have separate boys and girls races.

Eh? Sex segregation for six year olds?!! How seriously are you taking this?

Our school they put them in colour coded teams across the whole school. Each year group then does a range of activities and they get points for their team by eg throwing into different hoops, running a circuit within a time limit, jumping past a cone, how many star jumps they do in a minute or whatever. After all the year groups have had their circuit the points are added up and one team (a fifth of the school) wins. There’s a whole range of events, they all contribute something to the team, there are no individual winners but it’s still nicely competitive and no one feels the need to get too worried about the feminist implications of little children throwing beanbags.

Maybe some schools take athletics much more seriously!

My 6 year olds beat the boys at sports days. Only separated once they were at secondary school. Yabu.

I agree they should be separated, IIRC the difference is statistically significant from age 8.