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Children form their gender identity (that is, their sense of “boyness” and “girlness”) during the pre-school years, and their views about gender typically become fixed and stereotyped at that stage.
However, the results of the PageGroup Recruitment “Drawing Gender” Study reveal that later on , during the primary school years, children also develop stereotyped ideas about job-gender – when seven to 11-year-old boys and girls were asked to draw a picture of people in a range of jobs, 81 per cent drew a nurse as female, 88 per cent drew a builder as male, 80 per cent drew a banker as male, and 65 per cent drew a lawyer as male. Although these views sometimes accurately reflect the reality of working life (for example, only ten per cent of nurses are men), they are sometimes inaccurate (for example, over 60 per cent of lawyers are women).
The psychological danger of stereotypes like this during childhood is that children’s future career ambitions and employment aspirations can be unnecessarily limited by their own rigid job-gender perceptions and expectations, irrespective of their actual ability, and that children might fail to even consider job possibilities associated with the opposite gender.
To avoid this pitfall, parents should get to know their children’s views about job-gender and then try to broaden their perspective so that they avoid setting artificial employment boundaries for themselves. Children will only fulfil their maximum employment potential in post-school life if they make a career choice that is suited to their talents, interests and abilities, not one that is needlessly restricted by job-gender stereotypes.
Eight Top Tips For Breaking Your Child’s Job-Gender Stereotypes
1. explore your child’s views about job-gender. You may be surprised to find your child has very stereotyped views about jobs for men and jobs for women, even though you don’t.
2. discuss job-gender stereotypes. Ask your child to explain why they think this job or best for a man and that job is best for a woman. That encourages your child to think more deeply.
3. challenge these stereotypes. When your child explains why a job is gender-specific, gently respond by pointing out why it can also be managed by someone of the opposite gender.
4. encourage your child to think outside “the gender” box. Suggest that your child pick a job associated with the opposite gender and then ask your child to imagine doing that job.
5. break the limits. Encourage your child to consider a range of jobs solely on the basis of your child’s interests and abilities, not on the basis of job-gender stereotypes.
6. give your child a range of work-related toys. Girls can have fun playing with toy tools sets, and boys can have fun playing with toy kitchen equipment.
7. choose your child’s books carefully. Try to avoid your child reading books that present job-gender stereotypes without offering any alternatives.
8. be aware of your own job-gender stereotypes. Your child is heavily influenced by you, so if you talk of “boys’ jobs” and “girls’ jobs’, your child will start to think that way too.