Children learn about attitudes, behaviors, and social expectations that society has for them, depending on their gender, a process referred to as gender socialization. Gender refers to the different characteristics concerning the femininity and masculinity of a person that influence a person’s identity. Socialization is the process through which people learn the norms, roles, values, and expectations of their society. Gender socialization and gender roles affect each other and how a child will behave when they grow up. Gender roles refer to behaviors and characters a person is supposed to have depending on their sex. Gender socialization occurs through family, education, peer groups, and mass media. How a person is socialized into a gender role during infancy, early childhood, and middle childhood also affects how gender socialization plays a role in family structure, school, sports, and religion.
Gender socialization is the concept behind examining why males and females behave differently. Gender socialization is influenced by the interactions kids have with their surroundings and the people around them. Although gender socialization is a lifelong process, early and middle childhood are the most important and intense periods of the socialization process (Hoominfar, 2019). This is because it is the period when children learn how to grow into healthy adults and also learn how to act and speak according to their gender. It is also during these periods when kids develop their way of thinking, personalities, and beliefs they grow up with.
Gender socialization begins at birth and progresses with time as one grows up. According to Carter (2014), gender socialization begins at birth, when families treat newborns differently according to their sex. Once a person is born, they are assigned a specific gender that determines how society will relate with them and how they interact as well. This forms the basis of their interactions and what is expected of them in society. This also affects the kind of roles others assign them. From birth, children are told what colors and styles of clothing they wear, what toys they should play with, and how they should act. For example, girls are given dolls to play with while boys are given toy cars for their entertainment. During the earlier stages of life, people use physique, mostly strength, and agility, to describe and talk to boys. Conversely, girls are addressed with affection, expressivity, daintiness, or fragility (Carter, 2014).
This gives children the idea that boys are supposed to be strong while girls should be handled with care as they are perceived to be fragile. Gender socialization teaches men to conceal their feelings because it is seen as feminine. This means that male child from a young age is expected to suppress their emotions as they are viewed as a sign of weakness.
The different agents used in gender socialization help with its spread. Schools and peers are the main interactions for kids to learn socialization. In middle childhood, children start going to school, where they learn gender socialization with their age mates, teachers, and the curriculum. Using the curriculum, teachers broaden the knowledge kids have while also teaching them values, behavior patterns, and standards using their personal attitudes and behaviors (Hoominfar, 2019). By interrelating with their peers, kids get to build their socializing skills while learning more about their genders and gender roles.
A person can be socialized into a gender through social mass media. What kids watch can greatly influence the first 12 years of life on television. Media is a strong factor in teaching roles and attitudes through the characters (Hoominfar, 2019). Watching how characters interact with each other in a show will likely influence how a kid is going to behave. If a show has good characters and encourages gender equality, it will influence kids to grow up knowing and believing they should be treated equally despite their gender. However, if the show has stereotypical ideas and characters, this will negatively affect the behavior of the child. It is not only socializing the child to think in terms of gender separation, but it’s encouraging the parent, teacher, and friends of the child towards that same thing.
Gender socialization in a family is viewed from different effect perspectives. According to Carter (2014), traditional research has only focused on four main effect perspectives, the parent effect perspective, the child effects perspective, the reciprocal socialization perspective, and the systemic-ecological perspective. The parent-effect perspective addresses how parents affect their children’s behavior, while the child-effect perspective addresses how the birth of a child focuses on how children socialize with their parents. Reciprocal socialization perspectives examine how both children and parents reflexively socialize. Carter (2014) explains that the systemic ecological perspective considers gender and family socialization as neither a parent-to-child nor child-to-parent process but that all family socialization is embedded in an environment or context that can have a great impact.
Gender socialization plays a role in the family structure in a society. In many cases, a family is structured depending on the roles the parents play. Fathers are viewed as the breadwinners, thus, are the head of the family. Children learn from observing others, and this determines how they will behave. For example, if a family shares the household chores, the kid will grow up with that mentality. The child will grow up knowing that no chores are assigned to a particular gender. If the child observes that only the mother does all the household chores, they are inclined to believe that house chores are meant for girls. The family structure also affects how a child socializes based on how they relate and behave around the child. Children that grow up being treated equally at home will reflect the same behavior as they interact with other kids.
Over the years, some sporting activities were considered better suited for different genders. For example, football was considered a boy’s game, while ballet was considered to be a girl’s activity. The division between masculine and feminine sports is strongly culturally constructed (Jakubowska & Byczkowska-Owczarek, 2021). Sports are either labeled for ‘girls’ or for ‘boys.’ Typically, ‘boys’ play was defined by sports activities that demanded strength and fastness, while ‘ less physically demanding activities characterized girls’ play. This was due to the stereotypical belief that girls are fragile and that football is best suited for boys as they are masculine (Carter, 2014). However, this is changing, and children are allowed to play any game they like, regardless of gender.
Religion creates room for gender socialization, during religious assemblies and functions. During religious services, there are social interactions especially when kids go to their classes for lessons. In these lessons, teachers can teach kids about the different genders and how society expects them to behave. Religious sessions are also a good way to encourage gender socialization between the kids, thus promoting unity and encouraging gender equality.
By bringing together children from different social, cultural and financial backgrounds, religion creates fairness and encourages unity among its members. In most cases, religion tells stories about old times and how the two genders are interrelated. They also give an overview of the roles carried out by the genders in ancient times. They can also be a platform where teachers help children learn positive ideas and attitudes thus encouraging gender socialization and strong beliefs that will help them in the future.
It is clear that gender socialization starts at a very young age and shapes how one will behave as an adult. Gender socialization is important as they teach individuals in society according to cultures and beliefs. It is also important as it helps parents monitor the beliefs their children are learning from society. Gender socialization is important in ensuring society raises Children who understand their roles but also understand not to be exploited or limited during socialization. It also affects how people relate to each other, the roles they believe they should play in the future, and the types of adults in society.
In conclusion, parents should avoid interactions and relations with their kids that might hinder and affect them negatively since they learn from this gender socialization. They should help them learn and understand that they can be whomever they want in the current society. This should be done to ensure that kids go for whatever they want regardless of whether it is portrayed to be gender specific. Family, peer groups, schools, and mass media are the most important agents that internalize and reinforce gender socialization differently.
References
Carter, M. J. (2014). Gender socialization and identity theory. Social sciences, 3(2), 242-263. Web.
Hoominfar, E. (2019). Gender socialization. Gender Equality, 13(1), 1-10. Web.
Jakubowska, H., & Byczkowska-Owczarek, D. (2018). Girls in football, boys in dance. Stereotypization processes in the socialization of young sportsmen and sportswomen. Qualitative Sociology Review, 14(2), 12-28. Web.