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Stereotypes In Children

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Children express their outlook towards gender roles everywhere: at school, at home, and even at the store. Surveys provide evidence that children subconsciously group specific roles and jobs by assigning them to only one gender. Gender stereotyping in children not only exists but also teaches them only one way of thinking. The limited outlook that children have on gender roles is an issue in society as it prevents them from opening their minds and thinking in a way that is not pressured by society. However, gender discrimination is not the children’s fault, rather children are ways with subconsciously with this way of thinking which introduces a form of involuntary memory. Although individuals support that children do not discriminate between …show more content…
Studies on gender identity reveal that children involuntarily group occupations, behavior, and dress according to one’s gender. Involuntary memory in children bases itself on subconsciously recollected instances, and from that is where the discrimination comes. For example, when a child sees more males than females working, they automatically think that it is only the man who goes to work. In one specific study, children are asked different kinds of questions in relation to gender identity. The survey shows that children develop gender serotyping as they develop gender identity, which clearly provides no room for them to think openly. One of the questions directed towards a boy asks, “Why wouldn’t you want to put on a dress?” The boy replies, “Other girls and boys will laugh at me.” Through these types of answers, children express the effect gender discrimination has on gender identity as they indirectly signify the importance of gender roles and the push society has on …show more content…
Gender equality looks at both genders as equally favoring the aspirations of men and women. Children’s fables in Africa, specifically the fiction of Ndabaga, bring out the best kind of gender identity by describing a brave, heroic woman saving the people of her village. As a result, it is shown that not only do children start to become more open to gender roles, but they also want to see active changes in society having less of gender discrimination. (96) Through this study, one can agree that girls and boys recognize that both genders currently have the same obligations and similar responsibilities in society. Both genders become equally involved in daily social, political, and economic growth of developed societies, implying that females are as competent as

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