In the months before I gave birth to my daughter, I became aware of many societal stereotypes or “biases” I had previously taken little notice of. If you have ever shopped for baby clothes, you will be aware of the great pink versus blue divide that dictated my child’s identity long before she was born.
After my daughter arrived, these biases seemed to spring up everywhere: the messages in the books she read, the characters in her favourite television series, the skin colour of her dolls, the gender divide in her ballet class and on and on. Of course, I could choose books with more inclusive messaging and buy dolls with a variation of skin tones, but I often felt these unexamined stereotypes were so entrenched in society that it felt impossible to even notice every one.
As a toddler she fell in
