When specifically dealing with gender inequality, the subconscious stereotypes that develop are due to the perpetuation of social norms that label certain behaviors, activities, and traits as masculine and as feminine. In a study done by Del Boca and Ashmore, they define gender stereotypes as “beliefs about the behaviors and characteristics of each sex” (Martin, Wood, & Little, 1990, p. 1). These societal notions about the behaviors of specific genders shape the way children develop ideas about a certain sex. These stereotypes develop early in life and have implications beyond creating mental representations of each sex. Gender schemas, based on social norms, have been found to allow children to fit information about people, toys, clothes,
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As children begin to gender type, they gain opinions on what society deems appropriate with regards to the differences of girls and boys, men and women. According to Lawrence Kohlberg (1996) in his Cognitive Developmental Theory, children go through 3 stages of gender identity, before the age of about 7, that set the stage for their gender identity throughout life. Kohlberg states that by age 3, a basic gender identity is formed, meaning children know whether they are male or female, but still lack the knowledge of the constant nature of this attribute. Between the ages of about 3 and 5, usually around age 4, gender stability is formed. Children become aware of the constant nature of their gender, and that they will become, over time, men and women. And lastly, at about ages 6 and 7, a child knows that this consistency in gender is unchanging, regardless of behavioral patterns or changes in activity and cosmetic appearance (Bower, …show more content…
The average American child spends over 900 hours of their time in school each year, meaning over 900 hours that are directly influenced by school teachers, school friends, and learning environment. In school, males and females are portrayed and taught in gender stereotypic ways; be it in class movies, books, or homework (Bower, 1992). At a young age, males are readily portrayed in more traditionally “masculine” roles; brave, powerful- possibly firefighters or the working parent- and women are portrayed in a traditionally “feminine” role; caring, gentle- the homemakers, or teachers. If children are being exposed to hundreds of hours of learning a year, much of which touches on gender appropriation, it is no surprise that stereotypical gender roles are prevalent later in life and in society. A change in the way children are presented information and material having to do with gender, specifically a change before the age of gender constancy (ages 5 through 7), could lead to an alteration of what is perceived as the norm. It could eliminate the artificial ranking of one gender as greater than the other later in school and in life. In kindergarten aged children, there is a great emphasis on learning through imitation as children are beginning to learn how to write, read, and most
As children begin to gender type, they gain opinions on what society deems appropriate with regards to the differences of girls and boys, men and women. According to Lawrence Kohlberg (1996) in his Cognitive Developmental Theory, children go through 3 stages of gender identity, before the age of about 7, that set the stage for their gender identity throughout life. Kohlberg states that by age 3, a basic gender identity is formed, meaning children know whether they are male or female, but still lack the knowledge of the constant nature of this attribute. Between the ages of about 3 and 5, usually around age 4, gender stability is formed. Children become aware of the constant nature of their gender, and that they will become, over time, men and women. And lastly, at about ages 6 and 7, a child knows that this consistency in gender is unchanging, regardless of behavioral patterns or changes in activity and cosmetic appearance (Bower, …show more content…
The average American child spends over 900 hours of their time in school each year, meaning over 900 hours that are directly influenced by school teachers, school friends, and learning environment. In school, males and females are portrayed and taught in gender stereotypic ways; be it in class movies, books, or homework (Bower, 1992). At a young age, males are readily portrayed in more traditionally “masculine” roles; brave, powerful- possibly firefighters or the working parent- and women are portrayed in a traditionally “feminine” role; caring, gentle- the homemakers, or teachers. If children are being exposed to hundreds of hours of learning a year, much of which touches on gender appropriation, it is no surprise that stereotypical gender roles are prevalent later in life and in society. A change in the way children are presented information and material having to do with gender, specifically a change before the age of gender constancy (ages 5 through 7), could lead to an alteration of what is perceived as the norm. It could eliminate the artificial ranking of one gender as greater than the other later in school and in life. In kindergarten aged children, there is a great emphasis on learning through imitation as children are beginning to learn how to write, read, and most