I can’t imagine that I ever would have backed down from studying any subject simply because someone told me it was a “boy” subject.
In Junior High, back in the early 1970s, I was told that I couldn’t take a wood working class because it was only for boys. I did not get the idea that some things are only for boys or for girls—I might not have been allowed to take the class, but I still work with wood. We have a kitchen table that I made back in the 1980s. I’ve never been one to be stopped by nay saying!
I was probably the last of the earlier generation. I’m in the oldest tier of baby boomers, born in early 1948. My mom had to quit working when she got married. My grandmother who lived with us never worked outside the home. So that’s how I grew up. I think that the change is good for most but sometimes wonder whether my mother and grandmother, strong women both, weren’t happier.