EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT

Lesson 09: Gender development during ECE

Direct learning

• In direct learning, children learn gender roles from the rewards and punishments they receive.
• Children may be rewarded for exhibiting stereotypic traits and engaging in stereotypic activities and be punished for behavior in ways deemed gender inappropriate. Thus, their gender-related behavior is conditioned.
• Parents treat their sons and daughters differently by presenting gender-stereotypic toys and assigning gender-stereotypic chores. Girls are more likely to be assigned kitchen and cleaning chores and boys are more likely to be assigned yard work. Surprisingly, there is little evidence that parents treat boys and girls differently in other ways, such as encouraging daughters to be dependent or encouraging sons to be aggressive and dominant.