Going Hell For Leather To Enforce Gender Stereotypes

I was the manager of a leather store, and one of the things we offered was leather stamping workshops for Cub Scouts. It was not uncommon for a den mother to bring a stray younger sibling or two along with her son and the other boys. I gave them a little piece of leather to stamp things on, just like their big brothers, and they were happy. I should also mention at this point that I am female.

In this particular case, we had the usual group of a half-dozen or so Cub Scouts, plus the den mother’s daughter, a little girl about five years old. After I’d done my talk about different types of leather, etc., we got to what the boys had been impatiently waiting for: the chance to hammer on things. As usual, I gave the little girl some tools and a bit of leather, too.

Her mother promptly took it away from her and told her, “No, honey, that’s only for boys.”