It’s no secret gender stereotypes have always been an issue in our society. Over the past couple of weeks, we decided to research this topic as a project for our Honors English Language Arts class.
We spent multiple weeks researching gender inequality and found that “children as young as 3 years old start to display signs of gender stereotyping.” In addition, “by middle childhood, children begin to classify occupations, activities, and attributes according to gender” (“Students’ Gender Stereotypes about Running in Schools,” Journal of Experimental Education).
With this alarming statistic, we began to wonder how these stereotypes are affecting the youth in our community and if they truly believe these false assumptions about their gender. As a part of our inquiry, we decided to analyze fifth grade students from Mrs. Kroll’s class at Springfield Plains Elementary, in order to see their perspectives regarding gender stereotypes.
One of our activities asked students to draw a picture of a doctor so we could compare how many students would draw a male to how many would draw a female. After collecting our results, we found that while some students drew females, the majority of the kids drew a male doctor. One child drew both a male and a female doctor and commented that his mother was a doctor.
Next, we conducted another experiment with the kids in which we showed them different pictures of toys and surveyed them on which gender would play with that toy. Our images included colorful blocks, a doll, a stuffed animal, crayons, and an action figure that transformed into different vehicles.
Our results found 18 out of the 21 kids said girls would play with the doll and boys would play with the action figure. This shows how children associate toys with a specific gender.
According to our research, even at a young age, girls are taught to care about beauty and to be more gentle, while boys are taught to care about action and be more aggressive. In our experiment, we also asked the students to describe a boy and a girl in their own words. The boys described the girls as “nice,” “pretty,” and “wears dresses.” The girls described the boys as “loud,” “crazy,” and “smart.”
From these results, we gathered the idea that even at a young age, kids have already set stereotypical ways of viewing the other gender. These views display that women are seen and expected to value things about beauty, whereas men should be stronger and the more dominant gender.
To end our inquiry, we interviewed the teacher, Heidi Kroll, to get an educator’s perspective on the gender issues she sees every day and how she thinks we should fix them.
When asked which gender she felt is most stereotyped, she replied by saying “boys.” Further explaining her view, she stated how in parent teacher conferences, boys are expected to be better in math. She also said they are expected to be tougher. Therefore, if a boy cries they are just told to toughen up.
In addition, she stated, “boys can handle more emotionally, unlike girls who get away with a little bit more because they are seen as sensitive and emotional.”
When asked if she sees any areas where students are held to equal gender standards, she replied, “the only thing that they mesh together in is art, or artwork.”
From this perspective, we can conclude it is important for parents and educators to foster a supportive environment, so students don’t feel as pressured or limited by their gender.
Gender stereotypes start early in a child’s life, but have a big effect as they grow up. Through our inquiry with the students and our prior research on the complexities of the topic, we can conclude that parents and adults in children’s lives play a big role in how they view gender. How we teach our children about gender, shapes their childhood.
Therefore, this topic is one that needs to be addressed before it inhibits their daily lives. It is up to parental figures and influential adults to reverse this issue and change our youths lives for the better. If we can fix this, children can start growing up in a world where they are free to be who they truly are, no matter what their gender is.
Written by Anna Laube, Andrea Luther, and Avery Bell, 10th grade students at Clarkston High School, for their Honors Language Arts class semester project.