Julia Molony: We can raise boys to be good men if we understand them more and condemn them less

Parents are more aware of traditional gender roles. Photo: Getty

Julia Molony

I have a son and a daughter. Aged eight and four respectively, they fall (just) within the bracket of early childhood, a developmental phase which, blessedly, spares them too much regular exposure to the culture wars. Yet as a parent in 2024, it’s almost impossible for me not to view daily life at home through a gender politics lens. In the world out there, there is #metoo and Andrew Tate, the gender pay gap and rape culture.

At home, as I intervene in fights over Lego that not-uncommonly involve fists and kicks, it feels like there is a pressing urgency to pass on critical messages about fairness, equal rights and, above all, the weighty moral responsibility that comes with having superior physical strength.