Baruch College’s Women Empowered for Success hosted its annual “Battle of the Sexes” on Oct. 24 at 12:50 p.m. as a competition between the sexes to raise awareness on gender inequality through games and fun activities.
There were three different games: one where contestants changed a baby doll’s diaper, another where they tied a necktie and, finally, a jeopardy game.
The boys won the first round, which left many spectators in surprise. “It broke a stereotype because the guys won and we didn’t win but that’s okay,” said freshman Elizabeth Chase.
“I was very confident that the girls were going to win. It’s a good surprise because there is hope that guys can actually help mothers or sisters or help out in the house.”
Senior Aymen Zouai said that his favorite part was, “The diaper changing because the guys won and usually we expect the girls to do that, men can do that as well.”
The girls won the second round of tying a necktie, but the boys took the victory home for the final round of jeopardy.
The questions for jeopardy were fair and unbiased to both sexes as they asked for three forms of birth control, tools to change a car tire, how long is an overall menstrual cycle, different types of haircuts and underwear for both sexes, smallest bra size and to identify the NBA’s most valuable players of 2019.
President of WES Nicole Aviles said she is ecstatic with the turnout of this year.
“It was worth it,” said Aviles. “We held it to bring awareness to gender stereotypes. It is a conversation that is talked about but I wanted to emphasize it. To break the barrier of gender stereotypes.”
Aviles opened up about how she was treated as a child and wasn’t allowed to play with the toys that were meant for boys. Though she wanted to play the guitar, she got the drums instead, compared to her brother who got the guitar because he is a boy.
“He will always get the guitar and I will always get the drums,” said Aviles. “I wanted to break that barrier and bring it to the event.”
“I feel like we are living in a world where women tear each other down a lot and that’s the reason we are not progressing, we are kind of critiquing each other all the time,” continued Aviles.
“But if we support each other and are always there for each other, then we are empowering ourselves and progression will happen.”
Sophomore Jordanny Alvarado said he enjoyd connecting with men and women all throughout Baruch and building relationships on a deeper level.
“I learned that I need to work on my diaper skills and that women are very intelligent on the habits of men so that is very interesting to find out,” said Alvarado.
“In a general society, you wouldn’t really expect a man to know the women habits and you wouldn’t really expect a woman to know the men habits.”
Freshman Carolina Castillo said it was amazing to see that gender roles do not exist and surprising that the roles can be reversed as both sexes can perform the same duties regardless of their sex.
