That gender of the child is a strong predictor of how parents behave toward their children and in the selection of the toys and clothes they give to them. Boys are allowed more
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.
In many shops, there seems to be an obvious separation between boys and girls items, for example, the birthday cards, books, clothes, and toys. This is shown in a variety of ways the boy's items are mainly the color blue and the books have pictures of either action figures, superheroes or tools. Whereas the girl's items are mainly the color pink. The books show pictures of fairies, princess, and Bratz. The cards also have the theme of the color pink for girls and blue for boys. The girl's cards have a lot of sparkles and pretty pictures whereas the boy's cards are covered in camo kind of illustrations and also have action figures on the covers. The children's clothes are separated into sections where there are labels for the boy's clothes and labels for the girl's clothes. The girl's clothing is all pretty and pink, it is covered in sparkles. Whereas boys clothing has camo patterns, blue colors, and pictures of action figures.
In the research done on “Sex Roles, Pink or Blue: Environmental Gender Stereotypes in the First Two Years of Life,” by Andree Pomerleau, Daniel Bolduc, Gerard Malcuit, and Louise Cossette at the University of Montreal stated that the physical environment of girls and boys will have an impact on the development of specific abilities and activities in children. In the research, three age groups were investigated and given types and colors of toys and have determined that boys prefer sports and large and small vehicles while girls had more dolls and fictional characters. The research proves that boys are more active and aggressive than girls. The research shows that as early as 18 months of age, children are already predisposed by sex stereotypes by their parents.
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
They found that parents think that boy children cry, more upset, and get anger faster than female babies. Parents believe that female toddlers need more attention than male toddlers. Female toddlers are more socially equipped for helping people cause parents talk to them about sad things and learn how to be more equipped with the helping other people from listening to others their parents and other people at a young age. Boys are more taught to become angry and assert dominance over others. Parents only interact with their kids in ways to help them be better for their lives ahead and do what is needed of them of their own gender roles.
It seems that many middle class and lower/working class families do not want to have a child that is a boy, they instead prefer a girl. This article explains why these parents are truly hoping to have little girls and breaking away from traditional norms that preferred boys. Having a male child is a fear amongst certain social classes in the United States. This fear is due to the expected gender roles that society expects from males, the normal aggressive behavior and boys don’t cry roles.
“Is it a boy or a girl?” is a question that is commonly used in a world where roughly 350,000 babies are born each day. Questions such as the one previously stated are what helps to determine what gender a child would be. “Learning to Be Gendered” by Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet focuses mainly on the factors that potentially influences gender. These factors can include names, colors, voice change and the societal norm of what a boy and girl should be. Eckert’s main argument is that being gendered isn’t something one can to gain based off of physical characteristics but rather on their own and through their interaction with society. Names and clothing are just a small part of the symbolic resources used to support a consistent ongoing
In the Eastern world, where boys are more heavily desired than girls, sex-selection is seen as a family’s perfect opportunity to have a boy. Unfortunately, with or without the availability of sex-selection in these areas, sexism remains a major problem. When many couples realize they are having a girl they will often malnourish or neglect the baby, as well as kill them through infanticide. Therefore, sex-selection in this region can prevent young girls from a life of abuse or negligence. The availability of sex-selection is not the problem in this area, but rather it is the lack of education that is preventing gender equality. Currently, there is a significant gap in the male to female ratio in Eastern countries. Of the entire Chinese population aged fourteen and younger, there are 1.16 boys for every girl, while in India there are 1.13 boys for every girl (CIA). Feminist movements, similar to the ones in the Western world in the 20th Century, need to take place in these areas. Additionally, women should be encouraged to participate in traditional male roles to show that they have just as much value as anyone
Gender is merely based on the psychological and behavior traits with being male or female. For instance, infant girls are generally dressed in pink and girls receive gifts, such as dolls and make-up kits. Newborn boys are generally dressed in blue, boys get BB guns and action figures. As the children grow the division between genders broadens. While females have the tendacy to be more sensitive and submissive, males are more independent and aggressive.
These days gender selection has become one of the controversial topics all around the world. Advanced technologies vastly affected peoples’ lives in order to select their babies’ genders that they hoped. Imagine, is it fair to select the gender of a child that might lead us to the discrimination and gender imbalance? In the article, “Gender Selection of Babies,” the author discusses whether it is good to use the opportunity to select babies’ genders or simply accept the babies the way they are. The article states that the people who support the gender selection should have right to select the gender of their babies without interference by the government or the society. People believe that mature adults should be free to select the gender of their babies to control over their family lives. On the other hand, the article also states that despite the continued use of technology for the gender selection in the medical field, there is no more than 50% chance of producing the desired gender of babies. People against the gender selection also argue that parents need to accept their children in a natural form. Biggest of all, this gender selection can also lead to sex discrimination and gender imbalance. While considering these terms, parents should accept the children the way they are without any interference.
Often when a couple becomes pregnant and finds out the sex of the infant, stereotypes begin to form. If the child is female, their room will often be painted pink with cutesy borders. The crib will have pink blankets with ruffles on them. The baby girl will be presented with soft toys and cute stuffed animals, as well as perhaps a baby doll or two. At the baby shower, the mother will typically be presented with pink and purple clothing, the colors of choice for a female child. When the baby finally comes along, she will typically be treated as a gentle princess. When it comes to girls, adults are often more careful, as if the baby girl will break.
Feminine characteristics are thought to be intrinsic to the female facility for childbirth and breast-feeding. Hence, it is popularly believed that the social position of females is biologically mandated to be intertwined with the care of children and a 'natural' dependency on men for the maintenance of mother-child units."
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
Today when a human baby is born the first question that is asked is '' Is it a boy or a girl?'' In human culture the answer to this question is gigantically significant. This definition of ''femaleness'' or ''maleness'' is the hypothesis of the society which assumes that the child who is born a girl will remain female forever, while a boy will be a male. Gender roles are created by society and vary from society to society as it takes all sorts to make a world. It does not matter where ever you are in the world its just ''society'' which assigns the gender roles without even having enough knowledge about one's gender identity. We living in 21st century but when it comes to gender role orientation we are in total chaos.