The Development Of Gender Roles In Children

5 Pages 1356 Words

The Development of Gender Roles in Children

In a society filled with gender stereotypes and biases, children often adopt gender roles
which are not always equal to both males and females. As children move on through childhood
and later into adolescence many factors influence their views and behaviors towards gender roles.
These attitudes and behaviors are learned initially in the home, and later reinforced by many other
outside influences such as their school experiences, friends, teachers, and television. Children turn
out to internalize many of the gender stereotypes and behaviors of the past. Where are these
stereotypes coming from? The strongest influence on gender development occurs in the home,
with parents passing on many of the beliefs they have about gender roles.
Children learn at a young age what it means to be a boy or a girl in our society. Through
opportunities, encouragement and discouragement, obvious behaviors, covert suggestions, and
various types of guidance, children experience the formation of their gender role socialization. It
is hard for children to grow into adults without experiencing some form of gender bias or gender
stereotyping, whether it be that boys are supposed to be tough or better at math, or that females
can only play with dolls. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research states, “parents, especially fathers,
tend to reward boys more than girls for displaying gender-congruent forms of play. They also
tend to punish boys more harshly than girls for deviations from prescribed gender role norms”
(McCreary 519). Often times this punishment is mental, with boys being teased by their fathers
for acting like a “sissy,” or not being “tough.”
A child’s earliest exposure to what it means to be male or female comes from parents.
From the time they are babies, parents treat sons and daughters differently, dressing infants in
gender specific colors and clothing, and giv...