Gender Equity in Early Childhood Education

The United States

In one study, ECE parents in the United States verbalized few traditional gendered attitudes towards boys and girls toys.  While on the surface, these opinions could indicate that parents are moving towards more gender equitable beliefs.  Yet only 46 percent of parents indicated that they would buy boys and girls the same toys and only 56 percent of parents would buy their sons dolls. This could indicate that parents hold deeper gendered beliefs than they would like to admit.  

Despite parents' expression of lower traditional gender attitudes, children in this study expressed expectations that their parents would approve of toys traditionally perceived as "girl toys" and "boy toys" and disapprove of cross-gender toys. This highlights the importance of looking more carefully at how traditional gender attitudes and beliefs are transmitted to children and nuances of that transmission.

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