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Speaking of my daughter and gender bias...
Her tee-ball team did baseball cards. By season's end, Charlotte was the only girl on her team. The other two girls quit the very first week, one without ever even playing a single time. Most of the other teams she played against were similar -- one girl or two at most, with the clear appreciation that the girls are only there temporarily. Once the kids move on to more serious baseball, the girls are just not included until they get to the age where girls' softball is available.
By comparison, the soccer organization does a much better job of encouraging girls to play. The teams are sex-segregated right from the beginning, and remain so all the way, but the turnout for the girls' teams is just as big as the boys' teams.
I wonder why there's still such a gender breakdown with baseball, but not soccer. With football there is eventually the strength difference and the fear-of-injury factor that ultimately discourages girls, but baseball in particular doesn't have either of those gender walls. Charlotte was just as good at standing around in the outfield and doing nothing as the next kid. It's odd, because one of our overall observations with Charlotte and her peers is that there's not nearly as much "boys vs girls" self-segregation at this age as Bridget or I recall from our own childhoods.
I don't expect her to continue with baseball for very long, but mostly because she seemed to have very little interest in it compared to soccer. I also suspect she won't be a soccer player for the long haul either, but right now I'd say it's better than even money that she won't want to do baseball next year.
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