Children 's Gender Development And Family Studies Professional

In my culture, rigid gender roles are enforced from the moment a child can communicate. Sex and gender in the Haitian community are used interchangeably. Men are expected to fulfil their duties as the “strong breadwinner” while women were expected to be submissive to their husbands and tend to the home and children (Benokraitis, 2015). Girls are taught to cook, clean, and care for the home, while boys are taught to be independent, vocal and financially stable. A husband does not feel the need to help in the domestic realm, as he is socialized into believing that it is not his responsibility. Religious affiliation plays an extensive role on many of the beliefs held by my family and culture. Many of the views I’ve previously held regarding gender roles have changed over the years.

In the article “Parental Influence on Children’s Socialization to Gender Roles” by Susan D. Witt states that parents expose their children at an early age of what it means to be a boy and a girl. Witt argues that parents do play a role in gender stereotypes to their children as early on as infants. Witt explains how parents decorate a child’s room. Witt states that children grow and develop gender stereotypes at home. She explains how parents encourage their children to participate in sex-typed activities, sports, and role play. Witt reveals that both parents contribute to the gender stereotyping but fathers have been found to reinforce gender stereotypes more often that mothers. Witt’s audience is

However, the boys were viewed as “that’s just how boys are”. The gender roles were clearly reflected within out household. Boys had the expectations of getting a good job and provide for their family when they married. Girls were to get married, cook/clean and maintain the household, take care of the children and always remember that they were the moral compass of the family unit.

In present day all around the world, society has certain expectations for the actions and behaviors of males and females. There are many factors in our everyday lives that contribute to the gender norms that society has set. This essay will discuss how situations in life can play a part in how people treat other people based on their gender. It is believed that males are the leaders of our world, but in present day woman can do as much as men can do. From The Journal of Marriage and Family, Hu states, “Differentiated gender roles in adulthood are rooted in one’s gender role socialization. In order to understand the persistence of gender inequalities in the domestic sphere, we need to examine the gendered patterns of children’s housework time.”(2015, P.1). Gender roles are society’s expectations of the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females that they must be taught. These roles define how females and males are viewed in society, their household, and workplace. In The Journal of Sports behavior by Hardin, he states, “Although gender role differences from biological and “Natural” exists in popular consciousness, research has long demonstrated that instead, many are long time socially constructed… Individuals understand their gender because they are given names and treated in particular ways, such as dress in pink for girls and blue for boys, that reflect social construction of gender. Bandura's social cognitive theory is key in understanding the factors in socialization”(2009, P.3). Bandura's theory of of social cognition is that behavior, environmental events, and cognitive factors are the main keys that shape attitudes and actions of an individual. Although, gender roles play a very big part in our society, specific genders are treated differently while dealing with peer influence, media influence, as well as employment.

In this session, I will discuss the gender roles in my family. The definition of gender role is the degree to which a person adopts the gender-specific behaviors ascribed by his or her culture (Matsumoto, D. R., & Juang 2013, 156). For example, traditional gender roles recommend that males are aggressive, angry, and unemotional. It goes further and explains that the male should leave the home every day to make a living and be the main wage earner. The traditional gender role for the female purpose is to stay at home and care for the children. It explains that the female is to be nurturing, caring, and emotional (Matsumoto, D. R., & Juang 2013, 156). These traditional roles for female and male are the opposite of one another. It is believed that the culture is likely to influence our perception about gender role in a family. In my family, my parents utilize the traditional gender role. Growing up, my father went to work every day and my mother stayed home with me and my sister. I believe my parents were influence by their parents and their culture to be traditional gender role parents. My father explained to me that they chose traditional parenting role because both sides of the family utilized traditional parenting gender roles. I believe my parents felt pressure to obtain the gender roles of the mother staying home with the children while the father worked. However, when my younger sister was old enough to go to school, my mother started to work. It was believed that when

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 &

According to Dako Gyeke and Owusu (2013), the difference in the roles of women and men begin in the household, where there is a strong emphasis on differential gender roles in the socialization processes of boys and girls. In Ghana, young boys are socialized to take up culturally defined masculine roles such as working on household farms and tending the household animals while women are socialized into the more feminine household roles such as preparation of meals and providing laundry services. Dako Gyeke and Owusu (2013) argue that knowledge about gender differences between men and women is entrenched in Ghanaian society to such an extent that it is likely the children will hold these views throughout their lives and show up in the type of work they do.

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

David Newman identifies several ways in which parents treat their sons differently from their daughters. He mentions how parents are more likely to talk about sadness with their daughters than with their sons and are more likely to talk about anger with their sons than with their daughters. This is because of the widespread belief that girls are “delicate” and sensitive to emotions while boys are taught to not show weakness. He further discusses how parents are more likely to “verbally teach and direct their sons” and use more “action verbs” and “numbers” with them as well. This is because parents expect their daughters to stay at home with the family while sons are expected to go out and work. Furthermore, Newman states how parents are more

W.E.B. DuBois once said, "Children learn more from what you are than what you teach" (DuBois). Established gender roles are taught early on and are adapted to because of what children see. Men are seen as the providers, protectors, and backbone of the family. Women are often the more domestic breed, taking care of the children, softer, and more submissive. When it comes to parenting, these roles are instilled into the children in numerous ways. More importantly, the child is watching and mimicking the behaviors instead of actually listening to what the parents actually have to say. “For example, children learn that women and men (should) act differently when they observe that mothers spend more time on care-giving and fathers, on leisure

There are many social agents that cause the construction of gender roles. Parents and family are important socialization agents in the gender role development of children. They have different values and attitudes regarding male

The way society is taught to be socialized is salient and goes unnoticed, therefore it is valid to claim that gender is socially constructed through our everyday practices, whether we are aware of the construction or not. With socialization beginning the instant a child is born, the process is continuous through out adolescence and varies dramatically across the two genders. With guidance from institutions and arenas such as education, sports, music and the mass media gender seems to be coerced, as it comes with a scripted set of behaviors and attitudes. This essay argues that gender is socially constructed on an everyday basis. To further explain this thesis the essay will draw on early childhood socialization of masculinity and femininity,

Consequently, mothers who experience a lack of authority outside of the home will use more control to raise their daughters (Regoli et al, 2011:179). In a patriarchal family structure, daughters are raised to be like their mother, which includes the preparation of daughters for domestic labour as well as consumption (Bates et al, 2003:170). Contrary to how girls are raised, boys in patriarchal households are raised in a manner which prepares them for the labour force outside of the house (Regoli et al,

Society today places many ideals when it comes to proper behaviours regarding gender roles. These are considered societal norms that are widely debated and controversial. Society has created a norm, which encompasses specific expectations and rules that change the daily lives of men and women, giving them specific tasks and behaviours to abide by. These standards are known as gender roles, which are defined as distinguishing actions, thoughts, and feelings of males and females. Gender roles are said to be a result of nature, which is a natural process, every male or female is to follow. On the other hand it can be a result of nurture, which changes ones way of thinking and adapting their lifestyle to fit their environment. Either way gender roles are a part of someone’s life from the moment of their birth, as they develop, and long after that, this proves that gender roles are influential to a person’s life and development. This essay examines how media such as music, family life, and different parenting styles encompass gender roles and teaches behaviours regarding them. Therefore, gender roles define males and females are a result of nurture and not nature.

Marina Epstein and Monique Ward described how gender socialization has taken place directly through parental communication in Exploring Parent-Adolescent Communication About Gender: Results from Adolescent and Emerging Adult Samples. This article was based on a study that examined the content of parental communication and tests for connections to their current gender beliefs(Epstein, 2011). The study understands there’s many forces that contribute to gender socialization, the article focuses on parents, the core gender socializers(Epstein, 2011). Epstein discusses how parents shape their children’s gender identities through gender-typed toys, chores and activities they provide for them(Epstein, 2011). Additionally, the difference of child interaction between both sexes is different, involving rough play with their sons and exploitation of more conversation with their daughter(Epstein, 2011).