How do gender stereotypes develop?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

- Gender stereotypes develop parallel with gender identity. By the time children are five years old, they have a remarkably clear sense of the difference between masculine and feminine sex roles in the culture, and they use people's gender as the main criterion to predict the behaviors of others. Even today, when society has developed an increased awareness of sexual inequalities, most preschoolers are confident that girls cannot be, say, firefighters and boys cannot be schoolteachers. If you watch young children pretending to go somewhere in a car, the boy nearly always drives. Interestingly, these stereotypes persist even when the child's personal experience provides examples of exceptions to the gender expectations, such as when the child's father is a schoolteacher, when the mother does all the driving, or when the child's books take a nonstereotypical approach to gender roles.
- In the United States, you can easily see these gender beliefs in children by observing the costumes they choose for Halloween. Although the costume might hide the child's true identity, 90 percent of children's Halloween costumes are conspicuously gender-appropriate, and only 10 percent are gender-neutral. Girls dress up as beauty queens, princesses, brides, animals (butterfly, cat), and food items (lollipop, ice cream cone). Boys are more likely to wear costumes representing police officers, warriors, villains, monsters, or symbols of death (Dracula, executioner, grim reaper). The gender identities and stereotypes in young children are so strongly formed that a child might well forgo all the candy Halloween promises than set out trick-or-treating in a clearly opposite-gender costume.
- As children move into the school years, gender stereotypes are further strengthened by systematic expectations about which subjects and activities are feminine and which are masculine. As early as second grade, children perceive math, sports, and various mechanical skills as masculine, whereas art, reading, and music are seen as feminine. This is not to say that boys refuse to produce art or play music or that girls reject math and sports. However, if you ask most children whether subjects such as math are "girl activities" or "boy activities," they are quite clear about the expected differences.
- As children enter middle and high school, their gender stereotypes have already begun to mirror those held by adults. They see certain courses, extracurricular activities, recreational choices, and jobs as appropriate for one sex or the other. This stereotyped thinking then guides their social, educational, and professional choices throughout the teen years and into adulthood.
- Gender-based stereotyped beliefs are so ingrained by adolescence that they tend to be an integral part of teens' view of the world. However, older children also tend to be more flexible in the gender-violating behaviors they will accept. They become increasingly willing, as most adults are, to judge people on other criteria in addition to their gender. They become aware that gender roles are social norms and that "breaking the rules" is sometimes acceptable (or even cool). However, this does not imply that as adults we become "gender-blind." Various gender-role expectations and the resulting stereotypes remain strong throughout life. For example, many adults are still surprisedâ€"and some are uncomfortable or even disapprovingâ€"upon encountering, say, a female airline captain or a male nurse.