In my family, boys are expected to do better and be more successful than girls. I'm the youngest in a blended family of 6. Three girls, three guys all grown now. My brother has a really prestigious sounding job and my mum made a comment the other day that I shouldn't compare myself to my brothers, as men are "typically more successful than women and it's still mostly a man's world." She thinks women can be teachers and have typical "feminine" rolls. She told me not to bother pursuing postgraduate studies, as she thinks it won't help me either way. basically I feel totally discouraged and hopeless.
My grandmother used to openly say "men make better leaders than women." And my mum would say "Well boys are typically better at maths and girls are better at English." This is the type of rhetoric I heard all the time growing up. It makes me angry because I have it in the back of my mind that I should only pursue feminine rolls, and guess what, I am terrible at maths. I don't think hearing it openly that I wouldn't be very good at it helped me get any better. My mom was a teacher for maybe 4 years at most, but the rest of the time she was a housewife. My grandmothers were both housewives and my dad's second wife was always a housewife and never had a job in her life. Yet I am still expected to go out and get a good job and be successful. I feel angry inside.
Can anyone relate to this? Did you grow up in a household like this?