Day 3 (Thursday)

Today we went to Uppsala University to meet with some gender studies students & professors. All of us students spent a couple hours chatting with Swedish students about gender issues & Swedish culture. Sami, Kaitlyn & I were talking with a woman named Elina. She is 29 (many Swedish college students are older than the average American college student) & has 2 kids so it was really interesting to hear her perspective about various issues. She was telling us how she and her boyfriend are trying to raise their kids in a way that instills beliefs about gender equality, but doing that has been harder than she expected. She said that there is some resistance from society. For example, if her young son wears pink shoes, people talk about it & make it a big deal. What she said seemed very similar to how it is in the U.S. And I think it is so interesting to hear that many of the issues we have with gender equality in the U.S. are issues that the Swedish still have too. At the same time, there are attitudes and beliefs they have that are very different from that of most Americans. I'm not sure what to make of it all yet, but it was definitely an interesting day! -Deanna