I will never know in a firsthand way the visceral response a woman feels when a sexual assault occurs. But I can direct my daughter to the people who do, the people who have written and spoken with eloquence and rage during this moment in time. The women who have stood bravely against social media trolls and men who intentionally subvert “believe women” into “believe all women, no matter what.”

A large body of research has proven that, when you reinforce gender roles, you do damage to young girls and boys. But a global study published this year shows the depths to which enforcing gender stereotypes harm children. Researchers behind the Journal of Adolescent Health study found that youth subject to strict gender expectations are at an increased risk for mental and physical health problems during and after adolescence. Girls, for example, are at a higher risk for pregnancy, exposure to violence, child marriage, pregnancy, and leaving school early. Boys, on the other hand, are more likely to experience substance abuse, die by suicide, ad have a shorter life span, according to the study's findings.

Stephen said that while he wasn’t upset with the school, he was incredibly disappointed to find they were still splitting kids activities based on gender. ‘I feel that in primary school girls shouldn’t have choices made for them based solely on their gender,’ he said.

According to a recent OECD report, it’s the only country in the developed world where fathers spend more time with school-aged children than mothers, to the tune of eight minutes a day. The Global Gender Gap report rated Finland the second most equal country in the world in 2016, and the Economist recently rated it the third best country to be a working mom.

“He told me, ‘Work is more important than family. Hands down,’” Carlson said. “I disagreed with him and that’s when he started talking about what it takes to be a great manager. And told me that he has kids, and that he missed out on a lot of things. That I need to make a decision if I want to work in his district.”

Pink has spent her entire career challenging the conforming restrictions of gender norms - and it's a viewpoint she's keen to pass on to her children. She told The Sunday People that she's intent on raising her daughter Willow as gender neutral, allowing her to make free choices that aren't dictated by what society states women should or shouldn't do. "We are a very label-less household. Last week Willow told me she is going to marry an African woman. I was like: 'Great, can you teach me how to make African food?"

Critics have claimed that gender specific toys can shape girls’ career ambitions, while parents and teachers also play a major role in influencing children’s career choices. A study by the Institution of Engineering and Technology found parents’ outdated perceptions of jobs for men and women are discouraging girls from pursuing a future in the science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) sector. The research showed that parents were more likely to recommend careers in caring and education for girls.

Boys have always known they could do anything; all they had to do was look around at their presidents, religious leaders, professional athletes, at the statues that stand erect in big cities and small. Girls have always known they were allowed to feel anything — except anger. Now girls, led by women, are being told they can own righteous anger. Now they can feel what they want and be what they want. There’s no commensurate lesson for boys in our culture.

When it comes to women who make an informed decision to ask for sterilization, everything from age, marital status and previous number of pregnancies to a hospital’s religious affiliation or a doctor’s personal beliefs can be used as a reason to deny care. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists makes these biases explicit in 2007: The procedure “may have important effects on individuals other than the patient,” such as the patient’s husband or partner (whose approval some doctors require). The unusual requirements some doctors impose — waiting periods, age restrictions and psychological evaluations — are similar to those that legislators opposed to abortion have enacted for women seeking to terminate their pregnancies.

Girls today receive two conflicting messages: Be mighty and be good. Now-pervasive “Girl power” messaging declares that girls can be anything they want. But in practice, the more subtle rewards for compliant behavior show girls that it pays to be sweet and passive. The sexual harassment revelations that have come to light over the past few months show just how dangerous this model can be.

But as one revelation of bad male behavior has followed another, the questions I keep asking are: Who raised these guys? Where did they get their ideas of sexual maneuver — the open-bathrobe move, for instance? And why did so many of the women they abused feel so helpless in the face of their grotesque advances?

Brewaeys saw no significant differences in children’s well-being or in parental stress or emotional involvement between family types. But single mothers by choice did score significantly higher on the amount of social support they received and the amount of support they wanted.