Any kid who celebrates Christmas knows a lot about Santa Claus, what with asking curious questions about him to adults over the years. Santa Claus is a magical, immortal man who’s either a symbol of the spirit of giving or a literal person, depending on the age of the person you ask. But one thing is clear to kids and adults everywhere: Santa Claus is definitely a dude.
We have no cultural story about Santa Claus being unable to do his annual duties and asking Mrs. Claus to step in and take over. That would be a nice story, surely — and the fact that we don’t have a story like that seems to have allowed Christmas-loving kids everywhere to internalize some weird messages about gender roles.
Anomaly, the creative agency that organized the #MoreWomen campaign, asked some kids what they thought about the idea of a woman doing Santa’s job … and the results are pretty depressing. This kid thinks that a lady Santa wouldn’t be directions-savvy enough to find her way around the world:
This little girl is worried about the lack of maternity leave benefits:
And this kid seems worried about all the heavy-lifting that moving packages would entail.
Presumably, Mrs. Claus is just as magical and immortal and miraculously competent as her partner, although we don’t seem to have as many stories about her role beyond “taking care of Santa” and “baking cookies” (that’s the stuff I remember, at any rate). If you have a kid in your life, take this opportunity to change the narrative about the Santa family. Maybe tell them a story about how sometimes, if Mr. Claus isn’t feeling up to snuff, Mrs. Claus delivers the presents — and the pair are equal partners. Just say you heard that “somewhere.” (From the Mary Sue, of course.)
(via Upworthy, image via Theme Park Review)
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