It’s time to raise soft boys and tough girls: Here’s how Iceland breaks down gender stereotypes

Photo credit: Hiroshi Ichikawa/Alamy via monocle.com Excerpt from monocle.com

If you had to name a nation that’s home to a network of schools practising strict gender segregation, your answer would probably not be Iceland. The country, which has been ranked first in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index for 16 consecutive years, currently has a female president, prime minister, head bishop and chief of police. But it is also the birthplace of the Hjalli model, an education system that is attempting to break down gender stereotypes among preschoolers by teaching girls to be more “masculine” and boys to be more “feminine”.