Twitter helps mother convince four-year-old that female train drivers do exist
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Parents, where do you turn when you can't convince your preschooler they're wrong?
The internet, of course.
Erin Watson-Lynn was at home with her four-year-old daughter Philippa, playing with a toy train set in their Melbourne apartment, when she was confronted with such a situation.
"Where's the girl train driver?" she asked her daughter as she chose the male figurine to go in the driver's seat.
"Only boys drive trains," Philippa replied.
No amount of parental persuasion would convince Philippa otherwise, so Ms Watson-Lynn turned to Twitter for help.
Her tweet caught the attention of ABC Radio Melbourne staff, who worked with Metro Trains Melbourne to introduce Philippa to female train driver Anita Sawyer via the radio.
Recruitment targets women
It is true that train driving has traditionally been a male-dominated profession.
When Metro took over Melbourne's train network from Connex in 2009, just 2 per cent of drivers were women.
The company has gone to some lengths to correct this gender imbalance, procuring a special dispensation to target women when advertising for new drivers.
Today, 18 per cent of Metro's more than 1,000 train drivers are female, with women making up half of all new recruits.
Formerly a bartender, Ms Sawyer became a train driver six years ago after seeing a job ad in the newspaper.
"It's changed my whole life so I feel very lucky that I got that opportunity," she told ABC Radio Melbourne's David Astle.
"It's just a massive responsibility ... I'm absolutely wrapped with the job."
'Not surprised' by daughter's assumption
Ms Watson-Lynn said she was "disappointed but not surprised" by her daughter's comments.
"No matter what you expose them to, or how much effort you put into them being able to think that anyone can do anything, there are parts of society that just aren't that way yet," she said.
"You've got toys that just have boy train drivers; they're not exposed to female train drivers.
"It's just about raising the profile of female train drivers, letting young girls know that girls can drive trains too."
Topics: people, parenting, children---preschoolers, feminism, social-media, women, human-interest, melbourne-3000
