Boys Vs Girls: Who's Harder To Raising

When children are born, mothers and fathers tend to describe boys as firm, alert, and strong, and girls as beautiful, pretty and cute. There is no difference between babies except for gender. The different descriptions reflect the parents’ attitudes about boys and girls rather than the babies’ actual characteristics. These stereotypes find there way into a child’s bedroom. A boy’s room contains more vehicles and sports equipment, while a girl’s room is more likely to contain dolls. Fathers, in particular, treat sons and daughters differently. Fathers play more roughly with sons than with daughters, and usually give them more independence. The different messages that are received by boys and girls from parents and TV become important to the way they view and behave in

Gender coding is not a natural or biological characteristic. People are born with different physical and biological characteristics, but make sense of their gender roles through cultural influences. “Stereotypes are amazingly powerful, and we may not realize the degree to which our thoughts, beliefs, and actions are shaped by them” (Silverman, Rader, 2010). Boys and girls are labeled as masculine or feminine, which is considered the “norm” for society. Children are not born masculine or feminine, they learn these roles from parents, peers, media, and even religion. Concepts of gender identity are sometimes placed on children even before their birth, such as with the selection of paint colors for the nursery.” Children begin to form concepts of gender beginning around the age of 2, and most children know if they are a boy or girl by age of 3” (Martin & Ruble, 2004). From an early age, children are encouraged to identify with gender coding. Gender is formed at birth, but self-identification as being male or female is imbedded into their minds by parents and society. A child learns to understand their gender role and their identity by what is taught and expressed to them by others. Yet as a child grows, gender coding can cause cultural confusion, and insecurity issues throughout the course of their life.

In the beginning of this article, Andrew Reiner described his experience with having a son. He stated, “I was faced with one of my biggest fears about parenthood: having a son” (Reiner, 2016, para. 6). Reiner elaborated on the growing trend of parents wanting female children instead of males. The article mentioned that adoptive parents are even willing to pay an average of $16,000 more in finalization cost for a girl instead of a boy (Reiner, 2016, para. 10). Reiner also noted that the boys-will-be-boys behavior does not originate with them (Reiner, 2016, para. 12). Instead, it is a product of their environment. He cited “... parents tend to touch infant boys less often and more roughly than infant daughters and that daughters are handled more gently and protectively… (Reiner, 2016, para. 12)” This displayed how societal norms shape behavior attributes that can be seen as non advantageous. Towards the end of the article, Reiner emphasized that we should empower our daughters and empower our sons with the same emotional literacy skill set and expansive worldview we teach our daughter (Reiner, 2016, para. 18). He finished the article with a short anecdote about how his son only wanted his attention and that is why he was acting out.

Those who agree that gender is a social construct would also argue that gendered behaviour is not innate, and that it is learnt throughout development. Gender identity is defined as “the way in which being feminine or masculine, woman or man, becomes an internalized part of the way we think about ourselves” (Ryle, 2014). The idea of masculinity and femininity and the strong distinction between the two are taught to us throughout our lives. An individual’s earliest exposure to the concept of gender comes from parental influence. Many studies show that parents socialize their children from birth by creating distinct environments for boys and girls and treating son’s and daughter’s differently. For instance, parents are more likely to assign domestic chores such as cooking, mending clothes and doing laundry to daughters, whereas sons are more likely to be assigned maintenance chores such as mowing lawn, small household repairs and carrying out garbage (Lackey, 1989). Parents may also use more emotive language when talking to their daughter’s and might encourage certain interests such as math and science in son’s, by purchasing more math and science toys and committing to other promotive activities (Jacobs & Bleeker, 2004; Leaper, 1998; Tenenbaum &

Children learn as early as age two what it means to be a “boy” or a “girl” (Aina & Cameron). This is described as gender identity, a person’s sense of self as male or female. Gender stereotyping emerges hand in hand with the development of gender identity in Early Childhood (Halim). Gender roles are society’s expectations of the proper behavior, attitudes and activities of males and females. When babies are born they are either put in pink or blue, as they grow up they still maintain the same “gender” colors. As young children start to socialize, they are playing with either “girl” toys or “boy” toys. When they get older they

Once a child is born, he or she learns to view the world based on the behaviors of others. The child’s primary caregivers, usually the parents, and others present in the child’s environment, such as siblings, peers, teachers, and even the media, contribute to the development of the child’s perception of himself, those around him, and society overall. This concept is called socialization. “The way we are, behave and think is the final product of socialization” and it is through socialization that we “learn what is appropriate and improper for both genders” (Crespi, 2004). This concept of gender socialization leads to the inescapable

Environmentally, a child’s experiences impact gender identity. Depending on family values or morals, a child could be confused by their gender. When a baby is born, there is much control on colors (if boy or girl) and ideas of the parents on how they would want to raise their daughter or son. For an example, a father would treat his son in a rough or unemotional way, while a girl would be protected and nurtured. Known as traditional roles, a boy doesn’t cry or play with dolls, but he can roll

Sociologist Dalton Conley wrote his book, You May Ask Yourself, addressing how “gender is a social construction” that is so normal for society to think how a man or woman should act towards the public. Society often categorizes roles that females and males are suppose to play in, but not only are they categorized they are also being taught what their gender role is suppose to do. The beginning of gender socialization can start with a child who is not born yet by simply having the parents purchase items that are all pink if its expected to be a girl, but if its expected to be a boy then everything they purchase will be blue. Conley states that gender roles are “sets of behavioral norms assumed to accompany ones’ status as male or female” (Conley [2008] 2013:134). So even when a child is growing into their infant years, toys are made specifically for their gender. By examining how social construction places gender in categories it becomes apparent that males and females get differentiated a lot which emphasizes inequality between them.

This is called gender socialization, which exaggerates sexual differences physically, experimentally, academically, and psychologically. Most parents are unaware that they play such a large role in creating a male or female child. But they are the first and one of the largest influences on their child. When parents have a female child she is viewed as sweet and gentle. The parents will even hold their daughter closer than they would a son. As they grow older boys are encouraged to explore while girls are kept closer to their parents. They are taught different approaches to many different problems in life. They may not realize it but through their interactions with their children they are encouraging their children to grow into a certain type of person based on their gender. The toys they are introduced to are even gender-based. Toys for males encourage them to develop such abilities of spatial perception, creativity, competition, aggression, and constructiveness. Toys for girls encouraged creativity, nurturance, and attractiveness. Children’s rooms and clothing are specific color: girls are pink and boys are blue. Girls often wear dresses and skirts that limit their physical activity. These types of influences at such an early age lay a foundation for the child’s personality. By the time they reach school age they already have a sense of being male or female. In school peers and teachers enforce these differences even further. (Lips, 1979,

In a speech in February 2013 President Barak Obama said, “One of the things that I really strongly believe in is that we need to have more girls interested in math, science, and engineering. We’ve got half the population that is way underrepresented in those fields and that means that we’ve got a whole bunch of talent…not being encouraged the way they need to.” It been three years since President Obama has made that statement and the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering and math as known as STEM majors is still a big problem today. The STEM workforce is crucial to Americas global competitiveness and groundbreaking capability. The people who work in the STEM field make up nearly half of the United

A study was preformed by Emily W. Kane, focusing on the responses of parents toward their preschooler’s gender non-conformity. The studies concluded that girls were more likely to be praised for non-conforming to their gender, to act more like boys at their age, but young boys were more policed on staying within their gender. Most Parents tried to discourage their sons from feminine clothing’s, toys, or activities; “He’s asked about wearing girl clothes before, and I said no. . . . He likes pink, and I try not to encourage him to like pink just because, you know, he’s not a girl” one mother stated (Kane). Fathers in particular seemed to be even more negative about their sons displaying femininity, as Kane states that fathers may “ feel a since of responsibility towards crafting their sons masculinity” (Kane). In one video centered around the opposition of James, a pastor brought up

Before attempting to conceive children, parents have preferences for if they want a girl or boy. They anticipate for their child’s gender and immediately begin making decisions for them. In the book, The Gender Trap: Parents and the Pitfalls of Boys and Girls, Emily Kane interviews parents to examine their choice of purchasing a “Daddy’s Princess” onesie for their newborn daughter or a “Little Toughie” onesie for their son. Although it may be difficult for parents to control their behaviors according to social constructs of gender, this can be the first step in the process that can potentially end up regulating kids in the long run and most of the time it’s hard to avoid the gender trap. Boys and girls are naturally different and it’s not a

Gender roles in society, throughout history, has been the leading cause of social expectations, and gender stereotypes, which has influenced children’s social identity. Notably, in the early eighteen century, society did not represent infants as a separate gender, but as an equal individual. Although, in the 1920s, the classification of sex identity started to emerge because of social changes occurring in the labor force. As a result, gender colors such as, pink and blue were highly used to provide variety in children’s clothing. Consequently, the symbol of pink and blue created an identity and the social expectation of gender representation. The media then used social associations to promote gender separation on children’s toys.

Gender should not be intertwined with the term sex, which refers to the physical differences in individuals. Instead, gender is the idea of being male or female, and it is well understood by the time children reach the preschool years. Differences in gender become more pronounced as children age, and societal expectations are reinforced by parents and peers. Behavioral differences may be evident since parents may treat their child differently according to gender. A big example of this is how parents may react to a child’s first

The population has different views on raising girls VS boys. The debate on this subject gets overwhelming when dealing with the opposite sex. Women will argue that it is boys; men will argue the complete opposite that it is girls. Some will just plainly state both is just as hard. When you start looking at the facts of the matter, it does steer to the direction that boys are harder to raise than girls. It all starts with being raised in a couple different categories, discipline, physical safety and school.