Children have no innate preferences for colors. This adorable 2.5 year old was in love with the pink Mini Mouse and this yellow race car. There were frequent tug of wars between him and my 3 year old daughter over these two objects of affection. When he went to the store, his parents did not divert him away from the aisle. But that is not always the case.
These kids will grow up and observe the world around bifurcated into pink and blue. They would make the most apt, likely, unscientific and unnecessary conclusion that "Pink is a girl" and "Blue is a boy color". Their worlds will be markedly different not just outwardly in terms of colors and clothes but toys, characters and yes ASPIRATIONS. They would probably be gender segregated way more earlier than what is usually the case in classrooms, birthday parties, recess and play dates. A perfect example of butterfly effect, where a small change in the few initial conditions drastically changes the outcome later on. A perfect example of Catch 22 situation where the child is given the choices he or she likes and the child likes the choices he or she is given.
The article "Toys are more Divided by Gender Now Than They Were 50 Years Ago" by postdoctoral scholar at the University of California at Davis Elizabeth Sweet captures the timeline and history of gender labeling in the toy aisles. Even though the toys in the early nineteenth century were highly gendered (kitchen set for girls and builder set for boys, at least 50% of the toys even in that era were still gender neutral. The beginning of 1970 saw more more women in work force and the rise of feminism led to a decline of gendered toy marketing. As per the article, less than 2% of the toys were targeted towards a particular gender. The gender neutral toy environment showed boys playing with kitchen appliances and girls portrayed as carpenter, scientists, doctors on the toy advertisement. This gender neutral flavor of the toy marketing was short lived. After a deregulation of children television marketing, the program length toy companies could create program length advertisement of their product and gender targeting increasingly became the norm. And as the article aptly put it, towards the end of the century the "little homemaker" became a "little princess" we see today. WHATS IRONIC IS THAT, LITTLE HOMEMAKER DID SO AFTER WAS A CARPENTER, SCIENTIST OR A BUILDER. Here are a few images from the article showing toy marketing trends starting from early nineteenth century.
HOMEMAKER AND BUILDER OF 1920S
BEGINNING OF 1970'S
The segregated gendered theme are a tip of an iceberg of a mammoth challenge - Gendered segregation in the play activities starting as early as preschool and creation of two different cultures as explained in this article The Beginning of two Cultures:By Preschool, Boys and Girls are Already Segregated. Two direct quotes from the article sums up this issue:
"Young children learn gender norms quickly and tend to bring them into their school environment. Preschool play activities can end up reinforcing that. Unfortunately, preschool teachers may have no idea that gendered play is a problem and may not be aware of their own gender assumptions."
AND
"Parents may think preschoolers are way too young to have already absorbed all of these messages about gender — but Globe said there is plenty of evidence that by the time kids enter preschool at age three or four, they’ve already been exposed to these messages through cultural influences, such as the highly gender-segregated toy shelves in department stores. Early childhood programs often do little if anything to combat these cultural influences."
Every play is unique and offers an opportunity to a child to sharpen his or her skill set. Blocks improve spatial ability, sewing helps with focus and task completion. Sports helps with the gross motor skills, playing with dolls help children cope with feelings. As the article puts it, when children are boxed into pink and blue, girl play and boy play, they are not only denied these life changing opportunities, it also makes cross-gender interaction a problem later on in life when they come together in adolescence.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? HOW CAN BE INTEGRATE THE DIVIDED COMMUNITY?
The article Boys and Girls Together suggests some interesting ways can learn to not over-emphasize the gender bring the both genders together in a variety of other ways:
As a Teacher:
- We’re all together in one group.
- No one group is more important than the other.
- Gender is not a category that matters in this classroom.
- Assign seating with an eye to integrating boys and girls
- At choice time, give boys and girls opportunities to work on a variety of tasks with a range of partners
- Assign boy-girl partners for classroom jobs
- Facilitate conversations about gender issues that arise in the classroom or on the playground
- Choose books that show boys and girls in positive relationships
- At lunch, have students pair up according to common interests and experiences rather than according to gender
- Provide opportunities for boys and girls to play together safely at recess
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Saying something like, “Line up, everyone who has a furry pet . . . a scaly pet . . . no pet . . . a feathered pet,” makes gender irrelevant and heightens students’ awareness of the things they have in common.
- Taking roles breaking gender stereotypes
- Having play dates with both the genders
- Conversations when the children seem to absorb messages that reinforce gender stereotypes
We always want to tell our children: they can be anything they want to be. But they can only do so all the time in absence of stereotypes and preconceived notions.
I will like to sum up this blog quoting the concluding lines from the same article above:
"Teachers scatter seeds in their classrooms knowing that some may not take root at all, while others may take years to reach the sunlight. Like other patient gardeners, they improve the quality of the soil and work a little every day. They celebrate small achievements. They recover from failure. They water their gardens and wait and hope."