Granny always says that for the girls the most important thing is to marry and have children. Girls should not wait a lot, because it will be more difficult to get married later. When I ask her "What about uncle Vlado - he is not married and he is over 40 already?" she only shrugs her shoulders and says "Well, it is not so vital for the boys, they could marry whenever they want." I really can't understand adults sometimes - how can that be important for the girls while for the boys - not?

Lilly is right - I have also heard my Mom telling my sister over and over telling that she's already 25 and it's high time to get married with her boyfriend and "set up their home". And my sister answers "Does the wedding make the family?" which usually drives Mom crazy.

 WHAT EXACTLY IS THE FAMILY?

They often say that the family consiss of a mother, a father and children - usually two. Well, is it always like that in real life? In some families, due to different reasons, the role of the father and the mother is taken by only oneof the parents. In others the mothers are much busier at work than the fathers, so they have to take more care for the children. Does this mean that in these families people do not live well?

Today,we can see many different types of families - and they have fewer or more members (grandmothers, grandfathers, uncles, aunts and so on). Whether this group of people could be called "a family" depends on if they love and care for each other and if they share "weal and woe" together,duties and responsibilities.

What do you think a family is? Check your answers in our funny TEST.

However, men and women are born equal in dignity and rights and this equality shall start from the family. This implies that each member of the family has the same responsibilities in growing up children and in doing jobs within the family. Do you agree?

 WHO DOES WHAT AT HOME? 

In the family each member plays an important role and has not only rights but duties as well. People still think that each member of the family is expected to do what he or she was "born for", and this very much depends whether you are a man or a woman. It is often considered that the father is the head of the family and according to that role he is expected to work and make money, take responsibilities and all the important decisions, while the mother is the angel of the home. She has to clean the house, cook and wash, to care for the childrn and her husband, and if there is an elderly or a sick member of the family, they are again her duty.Why only her? Because women are supposed to be "better" in that.

Moreover, women do only their "women's job" - clean, cook, wash, sew and knit - things that are not "appropriate" for a man t do. On the other hand women don't even change the fused bulb because this is "men's job". As if all these things are dangerous for the health of the other sex!

In fact, these are all gender STEREOTYPES and if we stick to them, we differ very little from the primitive tribes. Don't you believe? Read the text HERE.

Yes, there are women who prefer to be housewives and not to go work. But more women today work like their husbands and often bring more money at home. Why should they do all the chores as well?

Isn't it farer to distribute the duties at home in such a way that all family members to have free time as well, which they can spend tgether or enjoy themselves with things they find interesting? Men and women, boys and girls have equal rights and this equality should start from the family. Which means that all family members should have equal responsibilities for the kids and the housework.

Nowadays life has changed a lot and we should not make such strict division of male and female jobs. All jobs are equally good and respectable. Housework and cleaning could be done by the girls as well as by the boys. It is not fair to leave it only to our mothers, sisters and grandmothers as they are busy with work or study just like our fathers, brothers and grandfathers.

What's it like in your family? Do divide the housework, do you care for each other or you have left everything to your mom? You can check by doing a simple experiment HERE.

Relationships in the family play a very important role in our lives.  We learn from our parents how to behave with other people and later we reproduce it in other situations in our lives.

How we'll communicate with other people, with our future partners, husbands or wives and children, depends on what we've learnt in our family, but we mustn't forget that finally everything is up to us.

This training module on gender equality for school students is developed under the project "Equal at School - Equal in Life", financed by the European Youth Foundation to the Council of Europe in the framework of the "All Different, All Equal" European Youth Campaign for Diversity, Human Rights and Participation; the Directorate on Culture and Education of Sofia Municipality and CWSP's own resources.