Gender
Melissa Pederson, Brooke
Richards, Trisha Jorgensen
Gender Typing
• The process by which children
acquire not only a gender identity but
also the motives, values, and
behaviors considered appropriate in
their culture for members of their
biological sex.
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Focus of Gender Typing
• Gender Identity: knowledge that one is
either a boy or a girl and that gender is
unchanging.
• Development of gender-role stereotypes
(ideas of what males and females are
supposed to be like).
• Development of gender-typed behavior.
When does it begin?
• It can be argued that socialization
begins well before the infant is born.
– Is it a girl or a boy?
– “Eye of the Beholder” effect
Characteristics of Boy
and Girl Babies
• Physical Development
• Perceptual Abilities
• Activity Level
– Relatively no difference in any of these
categories, however studies have shown
that males tend to be slightly more
active than females.
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How do we begin to create
gender differences?
• Names: gender distinctions are made by
naming the baby.
• Clothing: parents dress their children so
that the gender of the baby is clear to
others.
• Physical Environment: Parents create
different physical environments depending
on the child’s sex.
– Ex. Colors and toys
Interaction Differences
• “Eye of the Beholder” Effect: baby is
perceived differently depending on
whether or not the adult thinks it is
a boy or a girl.
• Mothers
– More attention to girls
– More independence to boys
Interaction Differences
cont.
• Fathers
– More time with sons
– More rough-and-tumble style play with sons
• However, parents are typically equally
affectionate to either sex, want both to
behave and do well in school, etc.
3
Theories of Gender Role
Development
• Psychoanalytical Perspective
• Framework: Our personality is a
“dynamic system” of psychological
energy called the libido.
– Id
– Ego
– Superego
Psychoanalytical Theory
cont.
• The libido becomes focused on
different parts of the body =
Psychosexual Stages.
– Oral Stage
– Anal Stage
– Genital: This is where gender-role
learning takes place
Genital Stage
• Oedipal complex for boys
– Fear of castration
• Electra complex for girls
– Penis envy
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Contributions
• The notion of developmental stages.
• Role of learning in development of
gender.
• Potential emotional problems due to
developmental experiences.
Weaknesses
• Can’t be tested because it is all
unconscious motivation.
• Developed through working with
adults, not children.
• Little evidence supporting this
theory.
Social Learning Theory
• Framework: Children learn gender
roles through other’s reactions to
their behavior.
– Reinforcement: behavior is shaped by
its consequences
– Role Models: Children imitate their
caregivers.
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Differences in
Reinforcement
•
•
•
•
Play
Independence and Compliance
Achievement
Instruction
Role Models in the Family
• Example: Absent Fathers
• Effects on boys
– Generally more flexible in their play, not
more feminine.
• Effects on girls
– Not directly influenced in childhood –
differences shown in adolescence.
Contributions
• Explains why there are gender
differences learned early in life.
• Uses component of observational
learning.
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Weaknesses
• Doesn’t explain wide variation within
each gender.
• Doesn’t explain why kids continue
certain behaviors even though they
have already been reinforced not to.
Cognitive Development
Theory
• Framework: children use gender
schemas to organize gender-related
information in memory and influences
how a child interprets the world.
Cognitive Development
Theory cont.
• Gender Identity
–
–
–
–
Early Gender Identity
Discriminate between males and females
Using gender labels
Gender performance
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Cognitive Development
Theory cont.
• Gender as an Organizing Principle
–
–
–
–
–
Reasoning about others
Memory effects
Exaggerated stereotyping
In-group, out-group
Self-regulation of behaviors
Contributions
• Gender-role learning is thought to
occur as a function of more general
developmental processes.
• Assumes gender is a central
component of our identity.
Weaknesses
• Doesn’t account for the entire
process of gender-role socialization.
• Influence of others is limited to
caregivers.
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Masculine vs. Feminine
Toys
• Examples of masculine toys include:
transportation toys, large blocks, and
carpentry toys
• Examples of feminine toys include: dolls,
doll house, feminine clothing and kitchen
toys.
• Neutral toys include: puzzles, board
games, and play dough.
Why do children play with
gender specific toys?
Children learn to play with same-sexstereotyped toys because they are
encouraged to do so, receive negative
reactions when they play with
opposite sex toys, and/or because
they observe same-sex individuals
play with stereotyped toys.
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The Experiment
• Children were first observed in natural play and it
was recorded each time they chose a masculine,
feminine or neutral toy.
• Children were then given a list of toys and asked
which toys they like the most and why, and which
they liked the least and why.
• The children were then asked to pick toys for
Sam and Sally and tell why they would like those
toys.
And the results are. . .
• When children picked toys for
themselves they picked them because
of what they could do.
• When children picked toys for other
people they picked them because
“girls play with dolls” or “boys play
with trucks.”
What does this mean?
Preschool children frequently choose sexappropriate toys for other children
because of sex-typed considerations.
However, as the children’s own choices
were seldom based on sex-typed reasoning,
it is unlikely that children’s toy choices in
real play are based primarily on conscious
sex-role considerations.
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Fantasy Play
• Why is it important?
– Provides support and feedback on
emerging social-cognitive competencies.
– Crucial to the development of flexible
thinking.
– Provides support to experiment with
new skills.
Are there gender
differences?
Boys and girls fantasy play with the
same frequency and intensity,
however, the content of the fantasy
play is very different. These
differences appear at a very early
age and remain stable through the
preschool period.
Boy Fantasies
• Boys prefer superhero character
roles.
• Boys often substitute toys in their
play.
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Girl Fantasies
• Girls prefer familial, domestic play.
• Girls often have realistic toys and
are less likely than boys to
substitute toys in their play.
Do gender differences
affect development?
• Block suggested they lead to differences
in intellectual and emotional development.
• For example: Girls are provided with toys
that encourage them to learn social rules
and imitate behaviors.
• On the other hand, boys are given more
active toys and encourage to explore.
The effects
• Boys seem to suffer more from
environmental upheavals than girls, and
have trouble adjusting to school.
• Girls adjust well to school and appear very
competent in their childhood years,
however, in adolescence they become more
self-conscious, show lower self-esteem,
and are less assertive.
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From Play to
Conflict
Conflict is defined as
circumstances in which
two or more persons
have incompatible needs,
desires, or goals.
Experimental results
Type of Conflict
Number of Conflicts
Male to Male
35
Male initiated Cross- 28
Gender
Female to Female
22
Female initiated
Cross-Gender
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Why do 3 year olds have
conflict?
• Peer entry conflicts 50%
• Negotiation of roles and relationships
23%
• Possession of objects 14%
Conflicts arise when attempts at
influence are rejected by a receiving
child.
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Male Conflict
• More likely to either resolve the
situation and play together or to
break off relationships and have no
further interaction.
• More likely to use power assertive
strategies.
• Adults much more likely to intervene.
Female Conflict
• More likely to remain in parallel
play.
• More likely to agree with others,
to use explanation and
collaborative strategies.
Does conflict lead to
gender separation?
Maccoby and Jacklin’s suggest that
gender segregation arises because
girls feel powerless when playing with
boys so choose not to put themselves
in this position.
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School and Gender
• An African proverb says it takes the whole
village to educate a child: grandparents and
parents, teacher and school administrators,
lawmakers and civic leaders. When all these
citizens from our American village join forces,
they can transform our educational
institutions into the most powerful levers for
equity, places where girls are valued as much
as boys, daughters are cherished as fully as
sons, and tomorrow’s women are prepared to
be full partners in all activities of next
century and beyond.
Myra Sadker and David Sadker
Gender Stereotypes in
Preschool and Kindergarten.
• Study of childrens’ art production
and preference. (Boyatiz and Eades
1999).
– Gender differences in scribbles.
– Gender stereotypes in colorbook
preference.
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Gender stereotype in
career expectations.
• Elementary school girls choose lower
paid, lower status careers.
– Nurse, teacher, stewardess.
• Boys prefer higher paid, higher
status careers.
– Pilot, architect, doctor, lawyer.
Sexism in Schools
• History of Sexism.
– 1833 first year a woman was allowed into
institution of higher learning.
– Even then women focused on gender
stereotypical learning.
• Today
– More men in science and math fields than
women.
– Text books
• History books predominately male.
Sexism in Schools
• Sadker and Sadker (1994).
• Observed sexism in the classroom setting.
• Snapshots.
– #1- Tim answers a question
– #2- The teacher reprimands Alex.
– #3- Judy and Alice sit with hands raised while Brad answers a
question.
– #4- Sally answers a question.
– #5- The teacher praises Marcus for skill in spelling.
– #6- The teacher helps Sam with a spelling mistake.
– #7- The teacher compliments Alice on her neat paper.
– #8- Students are in lines for a spelling bee. Boys are on one
side of the room and girls are on the other.
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Sexism in Schools (cont.)
• Do Boys Volunteer more?
• Teacher responsiveness vs. student participation. (Altman
et. al).
– Academic Achievement important in regards to teacher
responsiveness.
– 6 classrooms studied
– 3 of the 6 teachers did call on boys more compared to
volunteer rates.
– Boys volunteer more
• 63% of all volunteering were boys
• Out of the 17 most responsive, 14 were boys
• The 3 most responsive girls accounted for 58% of
female volunteering.
Underprediction
phenomenon for females
• Standardized testing
– Females score lower overall
• Grades
– Females have higher or comparable
Study by Nelson et. al
(1999)
• KOG tests to college students
– Males average 47 correct answers.
– Females average 41 correct answers.
– Females grades comparable to males.
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Underprediction
phenomenon
• Why might females score lower on
standardized tests?
– Different guessing strategy
– Different expectations
• Social implications
– Female success in school underpredicted
Classroom Climate
• A Chilly One for Women. (1982
Association of American Colleges).
– Women ignored in the classroom
• Women’s papers graded on appearance as
compared to males graded on content.
What does this all imply?
• According the Monthly Forum on Women in Higher
Education 1996.
– More than half the women that earned PhD's were
married
– More than 60% of men that earned PhD's were
married.
– Men dominate the doctorate level achievement
– Since 1983 the number of women receiving a
doctorate degree has risen by 50%
– Age of women receiving doctorate degree was 35.9
years
– Age of women receiving doctorate degree was 33.2
years
– Women took twelve years to complete
– Men took ten years to complete
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Summary
• Gender role development begins before
birth.
• Gender differences are created through
caregivers interaction and environment.
• There are three main theories that
attempted to explain gender role
development.
Summary cont.
• Boys and girls play differently which can
affect development.
• Conflict in early years can lead to greater
gender segregation.
• Boys and girls choose gender stereotypical
careers in elementary school
• There are implications of sexism in the
classroom setting.
• Go in peace.
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