By Sam Wroblewski 630wpro.com

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island issued a report Tuesday saying grade schools are promoting gender stereotypes and discriminating against girls by giving boys more options during after-school events.

The Rhode Island ACLU surveyed 40 schools in 16 districts and determined that grade school-aged girls are mostly given social activities whereas boys received many more action-based activities, like bowling, baseball, and laser tag.

“The activities for boys tend to be movement, science focused, they go to magic shows; the girls almost across the board get dances,” said Hillary Davis of the Rhode Island ACLU.

Davis said that while the schools do a good job of being gender inclusive in the curriculum, the after-school events are often planned by parent/teacher groups under the auspices of the schools.

“And it’s these sort of independent groups that are creating these events that are undermining what these schools are trying to do,” continued Davis.

Davis by limiting girls to just dances they are reinforcing the concept of just looking pretty.

The ACLU hopes by raising awareness of the issue, parent-teacher groups and the schools can better plan events for children.