Tackling gender equality early: Adolescents are very responsive to normalisation of progressive attitudes in schools April 23, 2021, 8:20 PM IST By Anna Rego and Shagun Sabarwal “Mummy ki roti gol gol, papa ka paisa gol gol.” Mummy’s roti is round round, as is papa’s money. While this popular Hindi nursery rhyme explaining the concept of a circle seems harmless, it subtly reinforces deep-rooted gender stereotypes and exemplifies the gendering that occurs throughout India’s classrooms. Instead of challenging the typical tropes of masculinity and femininity, Indian curricula and textbooks chronically under-represent women, show mostly men at workplaces, and introduce gendered standards of intelligence, beauty, strength and skill to impressionable students.