A pre-school in Sweden has decided to stop calling children "him" or "her" in a bid to stop them falling into gender stereotypes. Instead, they've have adopted the genderless "hen".
As well as the decision to stop using the words, the school also carefully plans the color and placement of toys and the choice of books to assure they do not fall into stereotypes.
The Egalia preschool, in the Sodermalm district of Stockholm, has made the decision as part of the country efforts to engineer equality between the sexes from childhood.
The option to implement the rules is underpinned by a theory that society gives boys an unfair edge.
"Society expects girls to be girlie, nice and pretty and boys to be manly, rough and outgoing," says Jenny Johnsson, a 31-year-old teacher.
"Egalia gives them a fantastic opportunity to be whoever they want to be"，she added.
Jukka Korpi, 44, says he and his wife chose Egalia "to give our children all the possibilities based on who they are and not on their gender."


据英国《每日邮报》27日报道，瑞典一所幼儿园为了预防因性别造成的角色定势，决定不再用"他"与"她"来称呼儿童，而改用"hen"这个无性别指示的词。

除了决定停用这些字眼，校方还谨慎规划玩具的颜色和摆放位置，以及教材的选用，以保证不会落入俗套。


位于斯德哥尔摩索德马尔姆区的艾格里尔幼儿园把"从娃娃抓起"的这项决定作为是为国家推行男女平等贡献一己之力。

选择实施这项规定的理论基石是社会赋予男孩更多不平等的优势。

31岁的教师詹尼•约翰逊说："社会普遍期望女孩子就要像个女孩子，漂亮，可爱，而希望男孩子更加具有男子汉气概，粗犷，外向。"

她补充说："艾格里尔幼儿园给孩子们提供了一个绝佳的机会，让他们去成为理想中的那个自己。"
44岁的朱克•科尔皮说，他和她妻子选择艾格里尔幼儿园"是想给孩子们提供所有的可能性，这种可能是基于他们是谁，而不是基于他们的性别。"

• sweden [´swi:dn] n.瑞典 (高中英语单词)
• decided [di´saidid] a.明显的；决定的 (高中英语单词)
• equality [i´kwɔliti] n.同等，平等 (高中英语单词)
• implement [´implimənt] n.工具 vt.执行 (高中英语单词)
• fantastic [fæn´tæstik] a.奇异的；荒谬的 (高中英语单词)
• whoever [hu:´evə] pron.任何人，无论谁 (高中英语单词)
• unfair [ʌn´feə] a.不公平的；不正直的 (英语四级单词)
• calling [´kɔ:liŋ] n.点名；职业；欲望 (英语六级单词)