"They call me a 'tomboy' because I like water polo and football"

BarcelonaGender inequalities emerge very early. Children are already aware of this at the age of 10 and 11 and have some things to say about it: among their proposals is the end of violence and discrimination (especially sexism and racism), equality between people (including between boys and girls and also at school) and ending aesthetic pressure. This is what they ask for in theChildren's Agenda, a document prepared after consulting more than 5,000 children in Barcelona, ​​​​which includes 11 demands, 30 proposals and more than 100 ideas from children to improve the well-being of children.

What do the children propose to put an end to it?

On the one hand, they propose that there be control over the images that reach them so that they are real photos that are not retouched and that they represent all types of bodies (thin, fat, disabled, etc.). They also ask that advertisements represent diversity and that they are not always shown the model of the thin girl and the strong boy. Mireia, who is 11 years old and lives in the Gràcia neighborhood of Barcelona, ​​​​complains because she feels that society dictates that "girls must be thin and perfect and boys must be strong and tall." In addition, the children ask that clothing and toy stores not have separate sections for boys and girls. Sara, who is also 11 years old and is from Gràcia, explains angrily: "It has happened to me that I have gone to a store, I have not found any girls' clothes and I have bought boys' clothes, and the shop assistant has told me "oh, you've made a mistake, these are for boys."

These expressions and experiences are an example of how girls and young women are more pressured by aesthetics. In fact, according to the Subjective Well-being Survey of Children in Barcelona, ​​​​satisfaction with one's own body is one of the areas in which there is a greater difference between boys and girls: 15.1% of girls between 10 and 11 years old are little or not at all satisfied with their body, while boys who are little satisfied, less so (4).

On the other hand, they ask that "everyone can dress as they want and play whatever they want in the school yard," regardless of whether they are boys or girls. "They call me butch "Because I like water polo and football" laments Nerea, aged 11, from Sants-Montjuïc. This classification of activities according to gender not only affects girls, but also boys: "In third grade I felt a bit lonely because I didn't like football or tag_. Regarding extracurricular activities, we see that there is a significant gender bias. Firstly, because there are more boys who do sports extracurricular activities than girls (unlike what happens with cultural and artistic extracurricular activities) and, secondly, because, depending on the sports they practice, very masculine gender patterns are observed (like the one that is in the world, but yes the most extreme) and also some very feminized sports (such as dance and skating, in which the great majority of children who practice them are girls/girls)

And what happens until we put an end to these inequalities and discriminations?

Ending these differences and discriminations is not only a question of rights and equality, but also an essential way to guarantee better well-being for all children, boys and girls.

Even in such a fundamental issue as general satisfaction with one's life, we find gender inequalities in childhood that are accentuated during adolescence. Girls are less satisfied than boys with their lives in general: among children who are little or not at all satisfied with their lives, there are almost twice as many girls as boys (12.9% and 7.4% respectively). This difference widens in adolescence, a stage in which girls suffer strong discrimination based on gender: 40% of adolescent girls feel that they have been discriminated against for being girls, according to the Barcelona Public Health Agency. It is the second most frequent cause of discrimination (after discrimination based on physical appearance, which is suffered by more than 50% of girls). In addition, both have skyrocketed in recent years.

So, it is not just about guaranteeing rights, it is also about guaranteeing well-being from an early age. And guaranteeing this well-being is the best way to prevent good mental health, an area in which girls and young women also fare worse than their male counterparts: they report more feelings of unwanted loneliness, have more emotional distress and are at greater risk of poor mental health.