Gender Socialization

Gender Socialization

Sociology 100

Before a newborn child takes his or her first breath of life outside the mother’s womb, he or she is distinguishable and characterized by gender. A baby is born and the doctor looks at the proud parents or parent and says three simple words: Its a boy, or Its a girl The baby is brought home and dressed in clothes that help friends, family and even strangers identify the sex of the child. Baby boys are dressed in blue and baby girls are dressed in pink. The baby boy may be dressed in a blue jumpsuit with a football or a baseball glove on it. The baby girl may wear a bow in their hair and flowered pajamas. As the boy begins to grow, he is given a miniature basketball and a hoop to play with. The girl is given dolls and doll clothes to dress them up in. Even going further, eventually the boy may play with Legos and Lincoln Logs and the girl gets a PlaySchool oven and a plastic tea set with which to play house.

As I described in the not-so-fictional scenario above, gender socialization begins very early in life. Society has accepted such stereotypical things as baby boy blue and baby girl pink to help identify the sex of a child. Hopefully, the little Joey looks like a boy and baby Sally looks like a girl. Mothers and fathers make it easy for everyone to distinguish their bundle of joy by utilizing the socially established gender stereotypes. But where and how did these stereotypes come from? Unfortunately, out of the research that I did, I don't think there is a definite answer to that question. We seem to accept that blue is for boys and pink is for girls. Boys generally play with balls, toy trucks and building blocks whereas girls spend their time with dolls, tea sets and stuffed animals. But these are the stereotypes that are influenced by the parents. A baby child isn't concerned with his or her gender identity. As the child gets older though, he or she will begin to develop an identity for his or herself and establish a personality that reflects their masculinity or femininity (Norton 1996).

In Nancy Chodorow's essay "Family Structure and Feminine Personality" she examines the development of gender identity and personality. Except for the stereotypical examples I have given above which again are established by the parents, Chodorow states that the development of a child is basically the same for boys and girls until the age of three. During those first three years the mother is the dominant figure in the child's life. The father plays a limited role until the child reaches the Oedipal period (beyond age 3). It is at this stage that children begin to try to separate themselves from the clutches of their mother and establish their own identity. Chodorow examines how different this is for boys and girls (Chodorow 1997).

Ebony Magazine recently reported that out of a survey of one hundred fourth grade boys and one hundred fourth grade girls, the boys receive an average weekly allowance that is approximately 50% higher than the girls receive. On the average, the boys receive $4.18 as compared to the $2.67 paid to the girls. To look even further, the survey reported that the boys only perform three household chores to earn their weekly allowance whereas the girls are performing much more (Miller, 1997). Why are the girls expected to do four times as much work around the house than the boys are? Chodorow writes that a young boy is usually unable to identify with his masculinity through his father. The father is not as readily available to the boy as the mother. Without the father to follow example, Chodorow concludes that a boy will identify masculine characteristics to be doing that which is not feminine. This could be an explanation for the big difference in the number of chores the girls do versus the boys.

Though you might disagree with the morality of this statement, you have to admit that it is socially accepted that household chores are feminine duties. Young boys are bound to realize this and following Chodorowos theory, will refuse to perform a lot of chores in an attempt to become more masculine. Another aspect of everyday life that is highly influential in gender socialization is the media. What we see on television or at the movies, what we read in the newspaper or in magazines, what we see on billboards or hear on the radio are all very significant on how we form a opinion on gender identity. Media publishers have very successfully learned to play to an audience and are extremely successful in communicating with the audience they wish to reach. Advertisers are the biggest example of this concept. Society is very apt in recognizing images seen in commercials and printed ads and viewing them as socially acceptable behavior. For example,