Gender roles
Why do boys and girls play with different types of toys? Why do girls do better in school, and why are most people working in the health sector women?
What are gender roles?
Have you ever wondered why boys and girls get different toys, why girls often do better at school than boys or why mostly women work in the health sector? These are questions many researchers also ask themselves.
Biological and social gender
Biological gender means that our bodies are different. Social gender means what society expects from us. In English, we use the terms “sex” (biological) and “gender” (identity). How you look at gender roles differs from culture to culture.
En ung jente blir opplært av en faglært
Born into or molded into roles?
Some gender roles can be biological, and others are created by society.
Men are physically stronger and more aggressive than women. So it comes naturally for a strong man to carry a heavy box rather than a shorter woman. When it comes to choosing a partner, studies show that older men prefer younger women. The explanation here is the need to have babies and survive. These are examples of biological differences.
Some studies show that how boys and girls behave and what kind of interests they have are based on what is expected of them.
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Et par som pakker ned i esker
Gender roles in kindergarten
Studies made in Stavanger show that kindergarten staff expects boys to be tough and active and girls to be smart and quiet. Language also has power. For example, how you talk to children when they bring a new toy or clothes: you often say “You’re so pretty and cute”, to girls, but with a boy, you would normally say “oh, what a cool guy.”
The study also shows that the staff from kindergarten give boys and girls different toys and have different reactions to clothes.
“One example of this was when a girl in kindergarten who usually wore typical “boys’ clothes,” suddenly came in a pink dress. Then she got comments from the staff about how cute and pretty she looked in the dress.” (Stand, 2017)
It is this form of expectations for children that helps to shape their identity.
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Et barn som har te selskap med lekene hennes
Why do boys and girls choose so differently?
7 out of 10 girls choose university/college preparation at upper secondary school. 6 out of 10 students at universities are girls. Many students in Norway choose gender-traditional jobs. Some think that it is so because of the expectations they get from family, school and media. Others believe that it is because girls mature faster than boys.
Gender roles and differences are widely discussed. Some think the reason is biological, and others think it is social.
What do you think?
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Brannmenn på jobb
Sources:
- Aud Toril Meland og Elsa Kaltvedt (2017): Tracking gender in kindergarten. Early Child Development and care.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2017.1302945
- Forskning.no (14.07.2020): Kjønnsroller lever beste velgående i norske barnehager
https://forskning.no/partner-barn-og-ungdom-universitetet-i-stavanger/kjonnsrollene-lever-i-beste-velgaende-i-norske-barnehager/320578
- Teigen, Karl Halvor; Svartdal, Frode: kjønnsrolle i Store norske leksikon på snl.no.
Hentet 24. august 2020 fra https://snl.no/kjonnsrolle
- Bufdir (14.07.2020): Utdanningsvalg og kjønn
https://bufdir.no/Statistikk_og_analyse/Kjonnslikestilling/Utdanning_og_kjonn/Utdanningsvalg/
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