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Recent research shows that gender typing begins earlier and lasts much longer, including adolescence and even adulthood. Social learning theory with its emphasis on modeling and reinforcement and cognitive developmental theory with its focus on children as active thinkers about their social world are major current approaches to gender typing. Gender schema theory combines elements of both these views to explain how children acquire gender- typed knowledge and behavior.
- Instrumental traits reflecting competence, rationality and assertiveness are regarded as masculine.
- Expressive traits emphasizing warmth, caring and sensitivity are viewed as feminine.
Besides personality traits other components of gender stereotyping exist. These include physical characteristics – tall, strong and sturdy for men, soft, delicate and graceful for woman. Occupations like truck driver, insurance agent and chemist for men, elementary school teacher, secretary and nurse for woman and activities or behaviors like good at fixing things and leader in groups for men, goal at child care and decorating the home for woman.
By the age of 5 gender stereotyping activities and occupations are well established. During middle childhood, knowledge of stereotypes strengthens in the less obvious areas of personality traits and achievement. The stereotyping personality traits increase steadily over the elementary school years becoming adult like around age 11. Shortly after entering elementary school children figure out which academic subjects and skill areas are masculine and which are feminine. Throughout the school years they regard reading art and music as more for boys. During mid-elementary school years achievement is considered as masculine norm.
The impact of stereotypes on behavior is to become more powerful as children incorporate these ideas into their gender role identities. They develop self perceptions about what they can and should do at play, in school and as future participants in society.
During late childhood, issues of achievement become more salient to parents as children’s skills expand. Observations of mothers and fathers interacting with their school age children in teaching situations reveal that they demand greater independence from boys than girls. When a child requests help; parents more often ignore or refuse to respond to a son, where as they offer help right away to a daughter and the way parents provide help to each sex differs. They behave in a more mastery-oriented fashion with sons setting higher standards and pointing out important features of the task.
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