Children's Development Of Gender Identity

Children’s development of gender identification can be explained through the differences between “sex” and “gender”. Referring to the biological and cognitive differences between the two. Also through Kohlberg’s Theory of cognitive gender development which states that children’s cognitive development of gender identity moves forwarding stages and through the Gender Schema Theory which in turn proposes that sex typing

One specific component of identity development is the development of gender identification. Gender identity refers to whether people consider themselves to be masculine, primarily feminine, or some combination of the two. Although, often mistaken for the same thing, gender and sex are not the same. Gender refers more to characteristics …show more content…
Children begin developing strong gender identities in their first year of life becoming aware of being a boy or a girl. It often begins by eight to ten months of age, when they typically discover physical features. Then, around the age of two, children become conscious of physical differences between boys and girls, before their third birthday they are easily able to label themselves as either a boy or a girl as they acquire a concept of self-identification. By the age of four, children's gender identity is stable, and they know they will always be a boy or a girl. However, it’s understanding of gender in which is influenced by external features like hair, clothing, and shoes. A boy at this stage might say that if he put a dress on he would be a girl. It is not until the third stage, gender constancy, which children begin to understand that gender is independent of external features. This stage is usually reached by the age of seven. Kohlberg’s theory suggests that gender development is driven by maturation. That is, the stage in which the child determines how it processes information about gender and that children do not actively start processing gender information until they reach gender