When 'educational' programmes do more harm than good

Despite being very cautious about what I allow her to watch, that day I switched on assuming that the content would not be too bad as it was from SABC education. A programme called Thabang Thabong was playing, it looked harmless enough, but as I listened while cleaning, I found myself getting rather worked up by what I was hearing.

The episode was focused on families, with the roles of various family members shared. The presenter played the 'mother' who was ironing for the 'father'. It went on further depicting the roles in the family with the stereotypical gender roles assigned to the mother, conveying the message that within the family structure a mother's role is only to cook, clean and ensure that daddy's clothes are ironed.