What is a gender stereotype?

According to UN Human Rights, a gender stereotype is “a generalised view or preconception about attributes or characteristics, or the roles that are or ought to be possessed by, or performed by women and men.” However, no innate behavioural difference between boys and girls has been scientifically proven (Vidal, 2015). The differences we observe are therefore socially constructed. These gender stereotypes perpetuate inequalities between women and men and are linked to school dropout.

Activity: What are the gender stereotypes associated with boys and girls? List the ones you know!

Here is a list of a few well-known stereotypes to kick-start the discussion if you lack inspiration!

Housework and domestic chores

Start by playing the following video:

After watching the video together, ask parents to comment it and to share how they share domestic chores at home. Keep going by telling them the following:

Even if children, at home, see their parents equally sharing domestic chores (cleaning up, taking care of the kids, etc.), they will still associate women and mothers with these chores because the majority of the commercials, books and other media still does this association. This is why it is important to not only be a positive role model for your children, but also to challenge stereotypical representations you see daily with your child.

Toys and activities

Ask this question to parents: “How do you know if a toy is for boys or girls?” Collect a few answers, then show this decision flowchart.

All joking aside, toys allow children to develop various skills. For example, construction blocks develop children’s spatial awareness, as symbolic and role-playing games such as playing with dolls develop their relational abilities. To make sure all children develop all areas equally, it is important to allow them to play with a diversity of toys.

Behaviours and emotions

Gendered socialization reinforces gender stereotypes. For example, anger is more accepted when expressed by boys. During childhood, boys learn mainly how to express their anger (and less often other emotions), which can further down the road hinder their abilities to communicate (Ducret & Le Roy, 2012). We also notice that adults, when talking to girls, have conversation topics more oriented towards emotions. Adults also tolerate crying more with girls than with boys (CSF, 2016). At an age as early as 7 years old, girls are able to name synonyms to a greater variety of emotions than boys can, the only emotion to which they can find more synonyms than girls being “anger” (BBC, 2018). It is therefore important to let children, especially boys, express their emotions and to help them control these emotions. The following video shows a great strategy to help toddlers learn how to regulate their emotions:

If you are looking for a more in-depth article about how gender stereotypical parenting can influence early childhood social development, have a look at this research update by the Child & Family Blog. You will also find below a downloadable document titled Challenging gender stereotypes in the early years: the power of parents. This recent (2018) evidence paper will be of great use for parents wanting to know more about this subject.