Alumnus “Defying Gender Roles”

A 2012 grad, Sebastián Molano, with whom I’ve occasionally been in contact over the past two-plus years, recently wrote to tell me about a new project he has started.  I’m going to let him introduce it.

In order to contribute to the current struggle for gender equality, last January I created Defying Gender Roles.  This is an initiative that seeks to challenge harmful gender roles by creating a space to share thoughts and views about the nuances of being men and women today, and through it we aim to foster and promote diversity.

Last month, we launched our Facebook group and we have over 800 followers.  With this group we seek:

• To bring attention to the harmful gender roles that are part of our daily life and to how they affect our ability to be who we want to be.
• To “de-normalize” practices that perpetuate gender inequality and reinforce harmful traditional gender roles.

In this project, I have the support, ideas, and energy of five Fletcher alums: Joya Taft-Dick F11, Megan Rounseville F12, Sean Lyngaas F12, Amos Irwin F12, and Ana García F13.

I was invited recently to give a TEDx Talk at Colby College, where I spoke about what it means to be a man today and the struggle for achieving gender equality.  (A link to the talk should be available soon.)

With International Women’s Day coming on Sunday, March 8, I’m happy to be able to point to work that Fletcher grads are doing on behalf of gender equality.