Gender Stereotyping
This guide also addresses the ways in which children are pressured to conform to gender roles and stereotypes. Young children receive many powerful messages about gender roles and gender identity. Gender roles pressure students to conform to behaviors that may limit their full developmental potential. As Dr. Benjamin Spock noted, “When individuals feel obliged to conform to a conventional male or female sex stereotype, they are all cramped to a degree, depending on how much each has to deny and suppress their natural inclinations. Thus, valuable traits are lost to the society. And they are all made to feel inadequate to the degree that they fail to conform to the supposed ideal.” (Spock, Benjamin, and Steven J. Parker. Dr. Spock’s baby and child care. 7th ed., Pocket Books, 1998.)
Children who do not adopt the traditional gender roles are often targeted for harassment and bullying. Gender based name-calling is among most common in elementary school. Therefore, it is incumbent upon educators to understand these gender limitations and effectively interrupt childhood bullying. At the same time, if educators can expand on the expectations and expressions of gender for both boys and girls, this will help all children to achieve.
