Impact Color Associations Have on Gender Stereotypes

Gender roles have been used as a way of raising children for generations. While they have not always been the typical “pink is for girls, blue is for boys” stereotypes that we have grown accustomed to, there have always been certain roles for men and women that deem what is appropriate and what is not. Although the idea of gender roles has existed for centuries, the stereotypes themselves have evolved, leading many to believe that they are a social construct. “Up until the beginning of the 20th century, pink was actually more associated with boys, while blue was more associated with girls—illustrating how socially constructed these associations really are” (“Gender and

Yet, notwithstanding for children who recognize unequivocally with their introduction to the world gender, gender policing can bring about enduring issues. Girls run a consistent danger of being taught to partner womanliness with silliness, and we may be showing boys a type of inconspicuous misogyny also.

While in fact, in today's society, more often than not, these gender roles have switched. I believe that in order to create a change we need to start to teach children more flexibility in applying gender-role

     Even before the children are born, parents begin choosing clothing and decorations by color based on the sex of the baby. The stereotype of pink, pastels, yellow and white for girls and bright or dark colors like green, blue and red for boys has long been a part of culture. How many times have you heard kids argue over toys because girls don’t want that icky boy color or the boys don’t want the gross girl color? This

When you enter any store that has a children’s toy aisle, you automatically figure out which side is for boys and which side is for girls. On the girls’ side, you generally see lots of pink and purple, and glitter too. Blues and greens, as well as many other dark colors, fill the boy’s side of the aisle. The division of this aisle and the colors associated with male or female toys is known as the idea of gender-stereotyped toys.

Gender roles are set in place during childhood. Little boys are discouraged from playing with baby dolls and keeping house. Meanwhile little girls are given these toys as soon as possible. The notion that men are the breadwinners of the family is taught at a very young age.

In a script from the Great Divides by Kimmel & Aronson, “people of color face far more suspicion from police than do whites, and favored male professor’s benefit from evaluation, that they are smarter and knowledgeable while comparatively favored female professors tend to be evaluated as nice” Kimmel (2014).

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.

Even before the children are born, parents begin choosing clothing and decorations by color based on the sex of the baby. The stereotype of pink, pastels, yellow and

In the article Macho Man, Little Princess: How Gender Norms Can Harm Kids Everywhere discussed common gender problems that we are all familiar with. One was that there are kids and adults who still believe girls are vulnerable and that

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.

When a baby is born they are given a color. Not the color of their skin, but a color for their gender. Pink is for girls and blue is for boys. Women are chosen with pink colors because the advertisers want to show women as being delicate and fragile. Men can have different colors of red, blue, green, yellow, and purple, but not pink. Pink is shown as being fragile and feminine and not strong and masculine. When you look into the different sections in a store you see that the girls have unicorns, candy, princesses, dolls, and tiaras and that the boys section have trucks, cars, tools, and mud. Gender stereotypes make a border for people not to express themselves to the fullest and their emotions. As a young child seeing this type of stereotyping can put a negative impact on them. For example, in children’s books the good people are always princesses and are beautiful gets rescued by the prince who often is handsome. The bad people are portrayed as witches, evil stepmothers and daughter and trolls and unattractive. This sets up an idea that if you’re not attractive than you must be a bad person. This is a wrong idea to project on young children’s minds. Another example is that in the 30’s, Disney released a movie called Snow White. The average women in the 30’s was a size 8, but in Snow White she was a double 00.(JagJammer21, YouTube) A lot of children and adolescents in America watch television so much in their lifetime, that can mimic in their minds that what they see

The chart illustrates percenteges of youngsters, divided by gender, participating in five different sports ( athletics,rugby,tennis,swimming and football) in the UK in 2015.

These are traits that are commonly associated with femininity since long ago. This was due to the fact that women invest a lot more in their reproductive roles to

Women from birth are looked at as inferior to men. As a society we label babies by the color of their blanket when they are born. Boys are given blue as girls are given pink blankets. This from the start separates the two genders. As boys grow they are given action figures and are taught to play rough games, and girls are given dolls and taught to play nice. These differences continue to cause a gap between the two genders.