How our unconscious gender bias can impact children’s play
There’s a fairly well known experiment in which infants are dressed in clothes typically representing the opposite gender, and left to play with adults. The adults, who thought of themselves as very open minded, still directed children’s play towards the toys they felt best fit their “gender”
Besides the obvious bias, it raises another interesting point. In all cases, there were a variety of toys to choose from. Yes, these are quite young children, however it was rare for the adult to wait and see what the child expressed interest in, they were choosing for the child.
Even if we provide environments which contain a range of traditionally “boy” and “girl” toys, are we waiting to see where the child shows interest, or are we gently guiding them towards the toys we think they should play with? This can also mean pushing boys to play with dolls or girls to play with cars when they haven’t shown an interest.
For me, raising a daughter, this has been on my mind a lot. Right before her first Christmas, I saw this graphic online.
I posted it in our family chat as a not so subtle way of indicating that I didn’t want my daughter to be gifted a whole lot of pink things and a reminder that at that age she really loved blocks and cars!
As for me, I made sure that as well as a doll I also gave her Duplo. In the years that followed, along with soft toys, she also received cars, science books, building blocks, and toy dinosaurs.
She adores dinosaurs and often picks out dino tshirts from the “boys” section (that’s a whole other conversation!). She takes her dinosaurs along when we play outdoors, she even has one she likes to have in her bed at night. She talks about being a "Space Scientist" when she is bigger because girls who love space and science are a normal part of her world.
I’ve been really conscious of having a wide range of experiences (toys) available and allowing her to show what she is interested in, and then to follow that interest. This is also important in the classroom. Instead of thinking of an activity “for the boys” we need to be aware of the interests of the children in our classrooms. Think of an activity that best helps to achieve your learning focus, then see who it appeals to. No more princess activity sheets for the girls and superhero sheets for the boys.
The same consideration goes for the adults in our lives too! After spending a year getting to know the children in my class, I had one boy approach me one the last day of school with a small brightly wrapped Christmas gift. Before he had even passed it to me he said, “Here are some earrings. I told my mum I wanted to get you a Legolas toy, but she said you would like earrings. You don’t even wear earrings do you? I told her you loved Lord of the Rings but she said that it was for boys.”
How do you try to prevent subconsciously influencing the play of the children in your classroom? This is the last post for the year. If you are lucky enough to have a break enjoy it. I'll be back with more in January, thanks for joining me!
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