Gender Equality

Often parents and educators want to help children avoid becoming strongly
sex typed. They do not want children’s options for activities, interests, and
aspirations to be limited to those traditionally associated with their gender.
Adopting strongly sex-typed interests may be especially problematic for girls
because the traditional female role and the qualities associated with it (that
is, emotionality, nurturance, and dependence) tend to be devalued in
American culture. Traditionally masculine interests and behaviors are usually
tolerated in girls before puberty; it is all right to be a “tomboy.” Traditionally
feminine interests and behaviors, however, tend to be vigorously discouraged
in boys; it is not acceptable to be a “sissy.”

Considerable research has focused on whether and how socializing agents,
including parents, teachers, peers, and media such as children’s books and
television, reinforce gender stereotypes and teach children to exhibit sextyped
behaviors. Researchers have been concerned both with how gender
roles are modeled for children and with how sex-typed behavior is rewarded.
A study by Lisa Serbin and her colleagues carried out in the 1970’s is an example.
These researchers observed teachers’ interactions with children in a
preschool setting and recorded their observations in a standardized way.
They found that teachers gave more attention to girls when they were physically
close to them than when they were farther away; however, teachers’ attention
to boys did not vary with the child’s proximity. This finding suggests
that teachers reinforce girls more than boys for “dependent” behavior without
necessarily meaning to do so.

Parents often report that they try to treat their children the same regardless
of their gender. Many of the most powerful influences parents exert result
from behaviors of which they are probably unaware. Research studies
have shown that parents consistently interact differently with male and female
children in areas such as engaging in gross motor play (for example,
running, jumping, throwing), encouraging children’s sex-typed play (particularly
discouraging doll play among boys), demanding effort and giving
help with problem-solving tasks, and allowing children to have independence
and freedom from supervision.

Children’s peers have been shown to play an important role in sex-role
socialization. Particularly in early childhood, when children’s gender concepts
tend to be far more rigid than those of adults, peers may be the source
of misinformation (for example, “girls can’t be doctors; girls have to be
nurses”) and of strong sanctions against behavior that is inconsistent with
one’s gender role.

Laboratory studies have shown that exposure to gender stereotypes in
books and on television tends to have a measurable effect on children’s sextyped
behavior. For example, children are more likely to play with a “genderinappropriate”
toy after reading a story in which a child of their gender
played with that toy. In addition, these media may be important in the development
of a child’s gender schema because they provide a rich network
of information and associations related to gender. Extensive studies of the
gender-related content of children’s books and children’s television were
conducted in the 1970’s, and this led to reform efforts by some textbook
publishers and television producers.
One influential study by a group called Women on Words and Images
published in 1975 analyzed the contents of 134 grade-school readers and
found gender-stereotypic portrayals of male and female characters, genderstereotypic
themes, and male dominance to be the rule. Boys outnumbered
girls as major characters by five to two; in 2,760 stories examined, only three
mothers were shown working outside the home. Systematic studies of children’s
television have produced similar results. 354