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A CLOSER LOOK AT CHILDREN
AND GENDER DIFFERENCES
Development Process
There is much evidence to suggest that
gender is part of the developmental
process in boys and girls; similar to
conceptualizations of emotion, gender
is considered to be both biologically and
culturally constructed. Steve Biddulph,
in his best-selling book, ‘Raising Boys,’
explains the aim was to break out of old
stereotypes that girls can be only nurses
and secretaries and boys can be engineers
and doctors.
Conditioning Theory
For the past thirty years, the conditioning theory pasteurized any
differences between boys and girls and enforced boys and girls
become who they become through nurturing; the clothes they wear,
and the toys they played with. Now ideas are beginning to appreciate
the fact that there may be differences between boys and girls that
are not socially created and these differences are okay-it doesn’t
mean boys are better than girls or vice versa. These differences can
be used to plan curriculum and work with, not against the balance
of gender. If girls prefer to work cooperatively on a team and boys
prefer to work alone alone, this can be used constructively to help
them to understand each other and speak the same language.
NATURE
OR
NATURE?
Do you automatically buy your son a car or truck for his birthday or head straight to the
Barbie section of your local toy store when you need to buy a gift for your niece? All of us
participate in gender role stereotyping to some degree.
HEALTH
learns how to celebrate
these differences and channel them positively.
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Mar/Apr 2015