Sex segregation

Yesterday afternoon I took my son to a friend's birthday party. My husband and I both left work earlier so that we could go, since the birthday girl is the daughter of one of my two best friends and we were thinking about hanging out with her parents. In Canada, birthday parties and playmates have indeed been for us an occasion to socialize with the other kids' parents. We were unprepared for the fact that there were no other dads around, not even the dad of the birthday girl who popped in a few minutes for the cake and then went back to his office. In fact, not even all moms were there, and two kids had come with their nanny. This was for us another example of sex segregation here in Italy. Childbearing is overwhelmingly a mom's responsibility, and when she is not available I have not yet seen a dad to replace her, but rather a nanny...