Gender Formation In Children

As a child grows and develops they rely on the parents less and begin to pick up on social norms for each gender. They will begin to mold themselves into what is expected for either a male or female in light of what they experience and learn from society. Eckert and McConnell-Ginet state that “over the years, the child will learn to take over its part of the process, doing its own gender work and learning to support the gender work of others.” Although parents are the first source of gender formation of a child, they will not be the only or even most important influence in their child’s life. The older a child gets, the more they are influenced by books, movies and TV. They will have role models they will look up to, whether a sports star, …show more content…
Playing into these gender roles or stereotypes parents may believe that their actions and the clothes and toys they buy will help their boys grow up to be men and girls to be women. I am sure if I had children I would probably do the something without really thinking about it because it’s the socially acceptable …show more content…
The pressures we place on men and women to be what is considered “normal” does affect us, negatively and positively, as growing children and beyond through adulthood. In 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft fought stereotypes and gender cliché by saying “[I]f we revert to history, we shall find that the women who have distinguished themselves have neither been the most beautiful nor the most gentle of their sex.” This quote to me shows that just because you’re a female you can be powerful, strong and they are not always as everyone views them. We have come a long way over the years by being more receptive to change and accepting of diversity in others. People every day are reaching accomplishments that were once believed to not be obtainable because of gender. In 2015 alone we have had the first ever transgender male to female actresses nominated for Grammy Awards, high school girls who won the Robotics Tech National Competition and the first two females in history to ever successfully complete and graduate from Army Ranger School. These barriers once set by society are not only being taken down, but demolished, by the driving force and greatness inside people. Gender roles, in one way or another, have been around since day one and I believe will continue until the end of days. I just think that over time they will be less limiting and society will be more