Gender Roles Among Children And Adults

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

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.

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

A week ago, I observed couples in the food court at the mall displaying characteristics of gender. However one, in particular, stood out. A presumed Hispanic couple with three children demonstrated a perfect example of gender norms and distinguished interactions between both partners. The couple sat directly across from each other and engaged in a conversation with their primary language being Spanish. The woman dressed in a light teal colored shirt, concealed with a black jacket on top of it and also wore faded colored jeans along with everyday white boots. The man wore a dark blue shirt and jeans alongside black boots and sunglasses resting on his head. Both partners acquired brown hair and shared a Chinese meal together while the children

In our society, there are norms of what is considered to be feminine and what is to be considered masculine, but how are these norms constructed? Through the use of toys, books, and clothing, children are socialized into their “appropriate” gender. These objects provide influence over behavior and appearance, showing boys and girls what is appropriate for each gender. After some investigation it was found that the toys, books, and clothing that children use not only foster the norms of gender behavior and appearance, but also construct gender roles in their young minds.

I observed three different children’s television programs through watching and listening at times to see how gender roles were portrayed, specifically towards children. The first observation that I made that was consistent throughout each of the different programs where that the females were either: bossy, deceitful, or very gentle. Males that were portrayed within the programs were either: aggressive, confident, or passive. I noticed that when the girls were being bossy (or sassy) they were viewed as “just being girls” rather than mean or acting inappropriately. However, if the boys within the programs were acting assertive (or bossy) they were being portrayed as mean, and acting in an inappropriate way.

Gender roles have been around since the beginning of time and have distinctly followed a specific pathway, naming women the nurturing figure, caretaker of the home, and having sensitive feelings, while men become the provider of a family with aggressive and demanding attitudes. This difference in roles create disunity that harms women in more ways than one. Gender roles can be implemented by both men and women ranging from all ages. From a very young age, girls are pressured to fix their hair neat, wear pretty dresses, and act bubbly, classy, and innocent. As girls grow into women, the same expectations still linger around them.

From an early age children are shown how different boy and girls ‘naturally are’ through media and advertising. For instance this Walmart advertisement to the right portrays boys as strong and adventurous while it portrays as girls as sensitive and caring. For instance one of the boys is shown with a toy gun while one of the girls is shown cooking with a childrens baking set. They also limit the boys clothing to very basic and bland colors while the girls wear lots of pink and bright colors. In the article “Gender Stereotypes: Kids Believe Them By Age 10”, Belinda Luscombe quotes Robert Blum, “We found children at a very early age—from the most conservative to the most liberal societies—quickly internalize this myth that girls are vulnerable and boys are strong and independent”(time.com). This article reflects a worldwide study that gathered information from many children in fifteen different countries. Gender roles are so harmful because they force men and women to be insecure about their identity if they do not fit into the guidelines of what is deemed proper.

You start see gender roles happen from an early age, such as the age 1-3 that is when we introduce children to colors and toys. We use blue for boy and pink is for girl, and we do this by not know that pink is commonly associated with being masculine and blue is a softer and feminine color. "Girls are not given action figures, tanks and guns", boys are and boys are not given "dream cars and cooking stations", girl are. These roles are preach to children from a young age and are press on to children so that they support it. Boys are encouraged by other boy to pick on boys if they are "playing with a baby doll and dolls house". It happen in the same way whit girls (well some what in the same way), girl get encouraged to pick on other "girls if they want to play football or have a toy gun".

Watters writes, “…individuals tap that cultural storehouse of knowledge simply by mimicking (often unconsciously) the behavior and the of ways thinking of those around them” (500). Children are sponges at young age. They take all that they see that’s happening around them. To have healthy gender development, society must avoid assumption that each gender is not interested in other gender’s activity. It also important in having a gender-neutral language, stopping the division among the children allows them to feel included, regardless of their gender. This also shows a variety of roles, allowing them to have the freedom to choose what they want to be.

Throughout childhood and adulthood, we are exposed to gender stereo types. We are first exposed to them when they are very young children. Environment and biology both play roles in how gender stereotyping and gender typed behaviors influence childrens behaviors. Biology plays a large role in influences of behaviors. The sex hormones in a body influence how children play and who they play with. At a young age hormone influences how preschoolers act and play. Children in preschool are affected by their hormones and they tend to play with the same sex children and act the same. Research shows that sex hormones influenced activity level involving what is an appropriate toy to play with and what jobs they can get.

Peers and parents of an adolescent have expectations of appropriate behaviour, while gender plays a role in one’s morality. Adolescents of both genders do not passively accept messages about moral gender roles rather; they commonly interpret them in unique ways often after one’s personal identity is discovered. They can either resist them too depending on their

Hello Elizabeth, as I was reading your paper I really related to a lot of the things you talked about. For example, my mom always corrected my non-lady like behaviors like burping or the way I was sitting like your grandparents did for you with bad language and burping. Do you think that your parent played different roles in your life because of their different genders? I ask because it states in the text, “parenting is gendered, with different expectations for mothers and for fathers and people of different genders work at different kinds of jobs” (Kirk,Okazawa-Rey, 2013, P.65). So, I was wondering if you have found this to be true in your life or not? I have found it to be somewhat true in my life that my mom did certain roles and vise versa

Boys cant wear pink as its ‘too feminine’, Girls have to stay home and cook while men go out and provide for the family,. These are the traditional norms that society has made us believe since we were young and impressionable enough to believe them. Most pressures to conform to gender roles are from our parents, who are the ones who buys our gender specified toys and stop us from wearing certain clothes because they’re not appropriate, parents enforce these stereotypes even in simple ways such as making. Many parents believe that these gender roles are actually encouraging their children. They are not. In reality many studies have shown that enforcing these gender roles on children are actually damaging them. But should we abolish these old

Gender role is defined as the social position and behavioral norm that is considered appropriate for an individual of a specific gender in the society (Liu, 2003). Every society has its unique culture and gender role is one of the products of a society’s history and culture. It is not set up by a single person within a short period, but by countless people in the society for thousands years. Parents started to shape their children’s gender by dressing and naming them according to their gender soon after birth. (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet) As children grow elder, they are exposed to a wider world and are then socialized by agents outside their family, such as schools and media companies. This essay investigates whether schools and the mass media contribute to stereotyped gender role in the Chinese society. It is believed that they are the two major socialization institutions promoting and manifesting gender stereotypes in the society.