Dianna's Story:
Treating children equally isn't new
Treating children equally is not new, but when I decided to have children, the world was a very different place from now. My kids were born in 1965 and 1967.
I didn’t take the traditional approach at that time to how I parented my children because I wanted to challenge norms and raise them more equally, regardless of their gender.
I decided not to dress then in the gender colour-coded style of the day.
My first child, my daughter, looked amazing in her little black sweaters and red tights or vice versa. My son, too, wore basic primary colours. I bought them dolls with accurate anatomical bits, they had cars, Lego, musical instruments that were identical and when they became old enough I expected them to share the same household tasks.
How an equal parenting approach impacted my children as adults
My children are both now in their 50s, and I believe that they have both benefited from my early refusal to treat them differently.
My daughter holds a senior post in a large multinational company that does not operate a glass ceiling and my son is a musician.
How I feel about how I raised my children
Many people in the 1960s pointed fingers at me and criticised my approach, but I do not regret one bit of it.
As someone who is now in their 80s, I wanted to share my story so that I might shed some light on the beginnings of the movements to treat our children equally.