13.1.3 Gender stereotypes INQUIRY FINDING 14: Stereotypical gender roles are taught from birth, reinforcing the patriarchal society, teaching girls to be subservient, encouraging sexual entitlement of boys, and creating an environment of impunity for perpetrators. The widespread nature and acceptance of patriarchy in Samoa has been found to underpin a vast amount of family violence perpetrated and that subservience of women is ingrained in children from birth. In order to effectively address family violence it is therefore necessary to prevent such a hierarchy being instilled in the way children view the world from an early age. The primary means of achieving this is simply through education and awareness raising. Families need to be educated on the harmful effects of promoting gender stereotypes and fully understand the link between the way they raise their children, the subservience of women, sexual entitlement of men and the pervasiveness of all forms of violence. Encouragement should be given through various channels to treat children equally and the benefits of doing so made widely known. Even the toys children are given, can affect their development. By limiting the choices for a child based on their gender, parents can be preventing certain skills and thought processes from being developed.21 By breaking down gender barriers parents will be empowering both girls and boys. This will provide them with a wider range of skills and knowledge that, amongst other things, will help reduce the risk of being involved in family violence later in their life. Gender equality means just that, ensuring children have the same opportunities and rules regardless of their gender identity. In practice, this means both are responsible as one another for chores, both being able to play and explore as much as the other and both given the same amount of personal responsibility for their own actions. In adopting such an approach parents can immediately begin to neutralizing patriarchy, eliminate the subservience of girls and prevent the sexual entitlement of young boys and men – all of which will play a significant role in addressing the prevalence of family violence. Gender equality is inherent in the true Fa’asamoa. The mutual protection of the community is not possible without it. As a result, raising children in a gender equal manner, and not favouring one over another, is simply going back to Samoa’s cultural roots and the Fa’asamoa should be central to teaching positive parenting in this regard. This approach can be further enhanced by considering the CRC framework to ensure equality for all children and minimum standards to guarantee development that is in their best interests. 21 BBC news. “Gender specific toys: do you stereotype children?” (16 August 2017). Retrieved from www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-40936719/gender-specific-toys-do-you-stereotype-children.