The socialization of children is gender-differentiated during early childhood, whether through their environment, the toys offered to them, their families or the staff in educational care settings. Consequently, children undergo a gender-differentiated educational experience. This section deals with how gendered socialization modulates the characteristics of the children’s connection to learning.

First of all, this translates into differentiated interactions with adults and peers. Adults, parents and educators, although they feel they do not act differently with children, change their behaviour depending on a child’s gender. This results in different learning and in different experiences for children. The older the children, the more their peers influence their behaviour.

Nor are the toys, activities and material presented to children free of stereotypes, quite to the contrary. Consequently, they create different gender-dependant learning experiences, encouraging girls to build certain competencies and boys, others.

This differentiated educational experience gives way to variations in the evolution of the different domains of a child’s development according to his or her gender.

Emotional and Social Domain

According the Enquête québécoise sur le développement des enfants à la maternelle (EQDEM) 2022, boys of the region are proportionally more likely than girls to be vulnerable in the areas of “social skills”, “emotional maturity”, and “communication skills and general knowledge”. The Emotional and Social Domain includes many elements that can be influenced by gender stereotypes, such as making choices based on one’s tastes and interests, participating in group life, and developing their self-esteem.

Gender stereotypes associated with interests and toys are acquired very early. By the time they are 20 months old, children have favourite toys typical of their own gender. Children play less often with objects typically used by the opposite gender in the presence of a peer, especially when that peer is of the opposite gender. By 2 to 3 years of age, children already have substantial knowledge about stereotypical gender-specific activities, occupations, behaviours and appearances. Children, especially boys, who engage in activities typical of the opposite gender earn negative feedback from their peers. Activities that receive disapproval are completed more quickly than those that are positively reinforced. The more time girls and boys spend with children of the same gender, the more their behaviour becomes gender differentiated.

Educators use boys more than girls to test stereotypical toys for boys although no significant difference is observed for neutral and girls’ toys. There is a broader range of toys for boys, and when it comes to material (puppet names, group facilitation tools, characters), the references are primarily masculine. Toys associated with boys include things used in the construction, transportation, technical and scientific fields, to maintain order or wage war and for occupations associated with high social status, such as doctors.

At the age of 3, the presence of dolls in the activities of girls systematically leads them to reproduce mothering scenes and to develop role playing. At the same age, only boys distinguish between dolls as objects and dolls as toys that represent babies requiring someone to take care of them. They are not as affected as girls by the symbolism of things. There are more costumes for girls than for boys.

Adults use girls’ first names less often than boys’ when speaking to children, and a group of boys is addressed differently from a group of girls (for instance, “hey, big guys” versus “hey, girls”). References are essentially feminine when it comes to the role of parents in the domestic and nurturing spheres. Girls are primarily complimented for their attractive appearance, which can negatively affect their confidence in their capacity to learn and develop new skills.

Emotionally, we notice that adults don’t allow boys to express their emotions as fully as they do girls (“big boys don’t cry!”). Emotional states and feelings are discussed more often with girls, increasing their sensitivity to others and fostering the emergence of a more cooperative interaction style in girls’ groups. Anger is a more tolerated emotion in boys. In childhood, they primarily learn to express their anger, which could later hinder their ability to communicate.

The development of social skills to experience harmonious relationships is also influenced by gender dynamics. Girls are more often asked to help boys than vice versa. Girls are asked more often to put away the games and toys, and they tidy up or offer to tidy up toys even if they haven’t played with them. Boys, on their part, have difficulty putting things away; they prefer to go on playing. When there is a conflict between children, adults more frequently ask the girls to be conciliatory. Girls are often the losers when an adult is not there to handle the conflict. They give way more easily, letting the boys take over their space or whatever they were playing with. Boys sometimes interrupt girls’ games by taking over, by destroying their set up or by forcing them to change their scenario. When boys interrupt their play, girls react by making proposals for continuing their activity, negotiating, calling for an adult or running away.

Regarding the rules of group living, boys are punished more often and demonstrate less self-control. Their unruliness is tolerated more and discouraged less. Fathers prohibit their sons from doing things twice as often as they do their daughters because boys are more likely to handle forbidden objects. Boys are called on more frequently than girls by the educators, and they receive more attention. Between the age of 3 and 5, boys obtain more instructions in response to their questions, which encourages them to become involved in activities.

To summarize, children’s interactions with adults as well as the toys we propose them are differentiated according to their gender, and this strongly impacts their social and emotional development. They learn how to function in a group and express their emotions and interests in a way that conforms to society’s expectations of their gender.

Language Domain

The regional results of the 2022 EQDEM teach us that boys are significantly more likely than girls to be vulnerable in the communication skills development domain. When looking at studies on the topic, we notice that adults sing songs and talk more often to baby girls. Adults adopt a much broader range of expressions with girls than with boys. Moreover, girls mainly engage in activities that are more related to playing pretend and role playing. All of this benefits girls in their language development.

However, we notice that public speaking is more encouraged in boys. Professionals interrupt girls more often than boys. Girls are asked to be quiet when they are too “talkative”, whereas boys speak out and continue to do so longer than girls and occupy more physical and sound space.

Physical and motor skills domain

As soon as they enter primary school, boys generally already have developed better gross motor skills, whereas girls have better fine motor skills than boys. Why? Many things can explain these differences.

As soon as they are born, adults have more physical interactions with baby boys, which helps them develop a better consciousness of their body very early in life. Boys engage more readily in activities involving sand or climbing. In terms of motor skills, a little boy who is “not very adept” physically generally receives more negative remarks than a little girl whose motor skills have developed to the same degree. It sends boys the message that we expect them to be really good at gross motor skills.

On the other side, we expect girls to be obedient, docile and orderly, and have fewer choices in terms of their activities. Little girls are more often invited to take part in “quiet” activities sitting at a table. A girl deemed “agitated” is scolded more often than a similarly agitated little boy. And as the choice of toys or clothes by parents often depends on the baby’s gender, not on his or her spontaneous behaviour, we notice that clothes deemed “for girls” (dresses, skirts, fine shoes, elaborate hairstyles, etc.) make exploring and developing gross motor skills more difficult. On the other hand, quiet activities such as crafts or role playing at the kitchenette allow girls to develop fine motor skills that boys aren’t encouraged to develop in the same way.

Cognitive domain

The regional results from the 2022 EQDEM indicate that boys are more likely than girls to be vulnerable in the general knowledge domain, which is included in the cognitive domain in the early childhood network. When looking at boys’ and girls’ socialization, we can see how children are encouraged to develop certain skills and acquire certain knowledge according to their gender.

First of all, stereotypes about boys—contending that they are more rational or cartesian and consequently, more talented than girls in science—and about girls—claiming that they are more emotional, more creative, and therefore superior to boys in art or literature—are highly persistent. These preconceived ideas about the skills of girls and boys can have important implications for their academic confidence and motivation.

Parents take care of girls, coddle and nurture them, which encourages them to rely more on adults than on themselves. They are less often congratulated when they do something well. Toys associated with girls are connected to the fields of care giving, appearance, childcare and sales, which confines them to a certain knowledge field.

Questions asked of boys who are 24 to 30 months of age tend to concern objective information about objects and people. They receive fewer compliments and, when they do, they are complimented for their physical strength. They receive more encouragement to succeed at a task. Construction and interlocking games as well as the technical range LEGOs are part and parcel of boys’ activities. These games, more focussed on the success of the activity, give boys the opportunity to handle objects and explore space.

The role of children’s literature

Children’s books are important pedagogical tools for the early childhood educators, but they also participate in differentiated socialization. Since children’s books are used at the moment a child builds up his or her identity, they contribute to indicate which characteristics are associated with each gender. Gender stereotypes are widely used in stories to support children’s understanding. This is why it is very important that the educators make sure all children are represented in a variety of roles when using children’s literature.