50/50: THE PINK PLUS BLUE MIX
One day in my teen years, I asked my dad what his favorite color was, and why? He answered, that he loved blue, because it was the color of the sky, and the sky was meant to be his stepping stone to greatness. I could never fathom why he chose blue, or what it meant to him. But, I barely managed to see his clothing or mementos in blue. He loved Liverpool FC with a passion, and he had sparkling red littering the room he shared with mum.
I loved brown. Shades of brown. I was brown anyways, but I loved brown gabardine, and brown suede, brown chinos and brown beach shirts; and my towel was a pale shade of coffee brown. I still love brown, and of course, the neutral colors — white and black. But, I know a lot of men who love blue without a reason. I couldn’t fathom why they did, until I began to put a lot of thoughts together. Thoughts that revolved around gender stereotyping with colours.
Baby showers were usually colour themed pink for girls, and blue for boys; baby clothes were themed likewise. In trainings, seminars, symposiums, etc, post-it cards and name tags were either pink or blue. Female or male. It seemed trendy enough, that in 2007 when I wore a pink shirt to class at the University of Jos, Nigeria, some of my coursemates called me gay. I loved the shirt, and what was written on it, but I got called gay for a couple of months I wore that shirt for. Eventually, I would tell them indeed I was gay, if they really looked at the dictionary definition of gay. But I was being stereotyped based on colour coding, ingrained in our subconscious from a rather early age.
Today, gender stereotyping remains rife. The true meaning of gender equity remains misconstrued, even amongst feminists and maninists. Yet, our cultural and societal norms from time past, continue to fuel this stereotype, consciously and subconsciously; with the female gender in the receiving end of everthing negative about it. From educational leverage, to work, social status, commodification, etc.
In Fine Arts class many years ago, we were learning the colour chart and how we could use the three primary colors of blue, yellow and red, to populate the color chart. This was to aid us in water color paintings, still drawing, oil color on canvass, etc. But, few people ever notice that blending the colors blue and pink in equal 50/50 measure, yields the best shade of purple. Purple from centuries past, have come to be associated with royalty. The regality of purple makes it a couples’ favorite any day as well.
I can only imagine the amount of joy that will stain my face, the day I find purple colored post-it cards, or trimly cut name tags. The day, gender dichotomy will cease to be an obvious distinction for identification in a room filled with equally amazing people at a training, seminar or symposium. And then, hopefully, in a couple more years, this will permeate our heats, and then society and culture norms, hopefully bridging the gender equity gap.
Indeed, the man is built to be stronger, and the woman built, frailer. But in equity, we all stand equal as humans deserving of equal rights, privileges, wages, responsibilities, leadership roles, as well as the very important aspect of gender roles in relationships and marriages. For, being a man in Nigeria (with the stereotypes of “a man doesn't cry”, “a man doesn't show weakness”, “a man is the leader always”) and being a woman in Nigeria (with such stereotypes as “if she is single, has a lot of money, have her own house and drives her own car, she is a prostitute”, “she’s a woman, she should never be made to lead a man”) remain a salient reason why we have yet to harness all of our human resources, and brought up horribly stereotyped and dichotomized generation of teens and adults. And, the rat race is on.
To reverse this cross-generational trend, Purple, a lifestyle brand for young Nigerians to unlearn, learn how to work together as female and male, creating a 50/50 world and promoting mutual respect launched a massive open online course as part of its project of influencing teens and adults in Nigeria. The courses are simple and easy to take; can be taken on mobile and web; and once you sign up, your device logs you in until you complete the course, so you can continue from where you stopped. To sign up for this course, go to the Purple Academy. To share your learning points and opinion about the course, use #PurpleAcademyLaunch in all your posts on social media.
