If Girls' Halloween Costumes Reflected Reality

Ask any kid what they want to be when they grow up, and chances are that whatever answer you get, it'd make a good Halloween costume — superheroes, ballerinas, veterinarians. But what if instead little girls' Halloween costumes reflected the real world and the positions they might find themselves in someday? If you don't think that sounds like very much fun at all, then you're right — as a new video from Huffington Post demonstrates.

We're all familiar with costume sexism as it relates to women's costumes, namely the fact that it's almost impossible to find decent costumes for women that don't show an absurd amount of skin — I mean, I respect there are lots of people who want to dress that way and good for them, but do costume manufacturers assume that is the only thing that all women want to wear? But fortunately, kids costumes are still a bastion of fun. And they're even getting less rigidly gender segregated, which is awesome to see.

But what if kids costumes instead reflected the sexist world around us and highlighted the different opportunities girls and boys will have over the course of their careers. What if instead of showcasing zombies and witches and mummies, Halloween really showed us the glass ceiling?

Well, it would probably look a little something like this:

Powerful CEO vs Underpaid Secretary

Chief NASA Engineer vs Social Worker Without Family Leave

And my personal (least) favorite:

The Low-Level Assistant Turned Boss Who Is Now Running For President

Which leaves his former employee whose promotion he stole wondering...

Unfortunately, the answer is kind of...yes. This truthfully is all more likely to be in kids' future than becoming super heroes or firefighters. But Halloween isn't really the time for real life — still, it's worth remembering that kids deserve a better, more equal world by the time they take off the princess costumes. And hopefully, they'll have it.

Images: The Huffington Post/YouTube