Little Girl's Answer On Outdated Worksheet Earns Her An A+ In Clapping Back

Her response to this question received a round of applause on Twitter

Teachers usually make copies of the same worksheets covering the same subject lessons for years and years; it’s pretty typical. But one little girl’s school worksheet posed a particularly outdated, sexist question — and her answer has been getting major applause on Twitter.

Here you have it, folks. Shot, chaser:

At first, it seems like a fairly typical lesson in phonics. There’s a section at the bottom where students are required to write the word that best matches the definition, and the first definition is “hospital lady.” First of all, technically that can mean multiple things. Like, for instance, any human woman who works in a hospital.

Clearly this worksheet was looking for “nurse” or “candy striper.” And let me be perfectly clear: nurses are the shit. They are smart AF, usually kind when doctors may be more brusque, and handle all the dirty work 24/7. There is nothing but love here for nurses everywhere. It’s just the authors of this worksheet most likely weren’t looking for “doctor” or “Chief Operations Officer.” Hell, you could probably even throw in “stewardess” if you really wanted to.

So the little girl (who just happens to be the daughter of two surgeons) took matters into her own hands and clapped back with the appropriate, modern answer: surgeon.

Naturally, the Twitter reactions are priceless.

https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/918209236739469314

https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/918554047828852739

https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/918720671437406208

https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/918178713547747328

This worksheet is a great example of sexist micgroaggressions at play. Sexism and misogyny are deeply ingrained in our society, and that is a damn difficult thing to undo. It’s especially disheartening when we see it in elementary schools — and something like this will undoubtedly garner a “so what, it’s an old worksheet, it’s no big deal” reaction from a lot of people.

But easily dismissed, hidden messages like this are what continue to invalidate the identity of women everywhere. It’s a good thing we’re raising a generation of young girls like this one.