Challenging Gender Stereotypes Quiz
1.
In modern day culture the colour blue is associated with boys and pink is associated
with girls. However, there was a time where these colour roles were the reverse. When did
manufactures and retailers decide to reverse the colours?
a)
1960s
b)
2000s
c)
1940s
d)
1900s
2.
a)
b)
c)
What traits do playing with cookery and kitchen items strengthen amongst children?
Organisation and cleanliness
Language and imagination
Honesty and obedience
3.
Does playing with a career dressed Barbie change how girls feel about occupations in
comparison to playing with a fashion Barbie?
a)
Yes
b)
No
c)
Indifferent
4.
Men are better at maths.
True/False
5.
Eric is a 4 year old boy in your kindergarten class. His favourite activity during free
play is to use the dress up corner. This afternoon his dad came to pick him up and noticed
him in a dress, when dad asked what he was doing Eric responded by saying “I’m a princess
Daddy! Look at my beautiful dress!” Eric’s dad has approached you and asked you to not
allow Eric in the dress up corner anymore as he is concerned.
What is your response?
Answers:
1. 1940s - Before this time pink was seen as a “stronger” colour representing
masculinity whilst blue was seen as a prettier/delicate colour meant for women
(Paoletti, 2012).
2. Language and imagination - This is strengthened through the social interaction
involved in imaginary play (Day, 2013).
3. Indifferent - A study by Oregon State University (2014) showed that the Barbies
identity had no effect on the opinion of the girl. However, the same study showed
that the girls’ who played with Barbies, in general, thought they could do fewer jobs
than boys. The study also provided some girls with a Mrs. Potato Head doll (much
less sexualised) and these girls believed they could do the same jobs as boys
(Sherman & Zurbriggen, 2014).
4. False - On average, men achieve higher scores on maths tests and are more likely to
follow mathematics-centric career paths. However, a study at the University of Texas
and New York University (2011) found that when they tested women who were
primed to think about the bias against women for that subject they performed
poorly. When the same women were tested on subjects where there was no known
prejudice they performed at the same level as the men. This is called “stereotype
anxiety” (Ford, 2011).
5. As discussed.