I recently headed into a Chapter’s bookstore to pick up the latest issue of ‘Outside’ magazine – one of my guilty pleasures and a constant source of inspiration for adventure and the outdoors. En route to the magazine section of the store, I was entirely distracted by a large hardcover book called ‘Moonfire’ by Norman Mailer. It is absolute eye-candy and a beautiful story of the Apollo era with full-page images of the astronauts and spacecraft during an unparalleled era of space exploration. I flipped through the pages, one-by-one, until my eye caught other books on the table…’Engineers: from the Great Pyramids to the Pioneers of Space Travel’ and directly to the left of it, a book of Feynman’s physics lectures. I laughed to myself and thought how this selection of books suits me perfectly!

Out of curiosity, I looked up at the heading of the section. ‘It’s a Guy Thing’. I was not at all surprised considering Chapters often has specific sections for ‘Guys with Brains’ and ‘What Every Man Should Have’ as mentioned in an earlier blog. Of course, I agree that these books definitely interest men, but why can’t we encourage women to have an interest in engineering and physics as well? Another book on the table focused on the great tales of  bravery and conquest in the field of mountaineering. I hardly consider mountaineering a male sport. Some of the best climbers and pioneers in the sport are women.

Chapters is the perfect example of why we need to start changing the perception of women in society. Women should be given every opportunity to explore math, science, and technology, sports, and adventure. Surely, it’s not just a guy thing?