The Influence of Childrens Media on the Perception of Gender Roles 1

Running Head: The Influence of Childrens Media on the Perception of Gender Roles

The Influence of Childrens Media on the Perception of Gender Roles

Emily Crawford
Glen Allen High School

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As stereotypes of all types continue to make their way into society as a force seemingly
more and more difficult to break, gender stereotypes are prevalent in a variety of examples of
media. In particular, they play a more a dominant role in childrens media than one might think.
As children watch their movies, play with their toys, and read their books, they are absorbing
information of what girls and boys should do. There is a large availability of research that
examines the different ways in which the media portrays these stereotypes while looking at the
impacts they have on childrens self-esteem and career choices. Additionally, the companies of
this media play a prominent role in familiarizing such stereotypes to with a young, vulnerable
audience. The negative effects are remarkable, which suggests that gender stereotypes do more
harm than good, especially in younger generations as they continue to become more exposed to
them without even being aware. As American parents continue to allow the media to play a
bigger role in the lives of their children, it has the power to influence how youth perceive gender
stereotypes, thus negatively impacting their self-esteem and determining career choice based on
social norms alone.
It is a fact that children construct their knowledge of gender at an early age. By 24
months they begin to define themselves as girls or boys, and have definitions of how boys
and girls should behave by the age of five. They quickly learn to categorize girl toys and boy
toys based on what they think is socially acceptable. Preschoolers have been shown to reliably
apply gender stereotypes when responding to questions about how the people around them
(parents, teachers, etc.) want them to play. Therefore, girls know they are expected to play with
the baby dolls, and the boys know that the toy trucks are meant for them. Interestingly enough,
authors of such studies have noted that societys definition of what is feminine has expanded
since the womens movement in the 1970s, but the definition of masculinity has not. Researchers

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report that boys who engage in girl games are more likely to be criticized by parents, teachers,
and peers than girls who enjoy activities and materials labeled as for boys (Freeman, 2007).
One of the most relevant examples of gender stereotypes in childrens media is seen in
the Disney Corporation - one the largest and well-known companies in the world, as it
continues to be extremely popular in childrens entertainment. However, in a study conducted in
2004, it was found that of 26 Disney films, minority groups were portrayed negatively, rarely, or
not at all. Gender images remained stereotypic throughout time, beginning with the first Disney
film in 1937. Only four women were found to have out-of-the-home employment, and 24
examples were found of women performing domestic tasks. For example:
Dundes (2001) analyzed Pocahontas and found some conflicting messages about gender.
In many ways Pocahontas is portrayed as a strong female character; however, at the end
of the film, she follows a stereotypic female script. At the end of the film, Pocahontas
says she is needed at home, and the movie has a sad feeling, giving the sense she is
staying out of duty to her community. Dundes concluded that Pocahontas could have sent
a stronger feminist message if it had a different ending. For instance, Dundes argued that
if Pocahontas had been portrayed as staying at home out of choiceperhaps taking on a
leadership role in the communityshe would have appeared less role-constrained
(Towbin, Zimmerman, Lund, et.al. 2004).
Disney princesses are known by virtually every little girl in America with a television,
and these are the kind of roles they are picking up on. By considering these fictional characters
their role models, young girls are absent-mindedly aspiring to be a stay-at-home mom when they
grow up with no belonging anywhere else. While it is true that some women do prefer this type
of domestic lifestyle, it does not mean that the media should portray it as the only way for
women to live. Role models for children should reflect confidence in themselves as an
individual, not as part of a category.
These stereotypes are also clearly present in childrens literature. In a study conducted in
2003, students uncovered a number of gender stereotypes in books such as ones by Dr. Seuss.

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After examining text, symbols, characters, colors, and themes, they discovered the stereotypes
that these things entailed. Upon reflection, one female student recalled:
There was a part in the book where a female dog asked a male dog if he liked her hat.
Every time he said no, until in the end he finally said yes when she had on the most fancy
hat. The last picture showed them going off togetherThe male dog wouldnt take her
until he liked her hat, and the girl dog got a new hat each time to impress him (Taylor,
2003).
This observation illustrates the connection between gender bias in the media and the
increasing worth of attractiveness for women. It is not until later in life that women begin to
understand that they have internalized certain behaviors with respect to their appearance when
they were young. Conversely, the same idea can be said about men who realize that they have
learned to see women as somewhat of a sexual object. Womens standards of beauty is one of the
main things that girls are forming due to what they see in the media.
In fact, in a body-image study conducted among preschoolers:
The cultural stereotype that fat is bad was pervasive across gender, regardless of the
child's own body build. In fact, overweight preschoolers demonstrated stronger
stigmatism than did those who were not overweight. The findings suggest that efforts to
counteract body size stigmatism should begin in the early preschool years (Cramer,
Steinwert, 1998).
These findings reflect how problems arise with body-image and appearance at such a
young age. Gender stereotypes play a role in this, especially for females, as they are constantly
reminded of societys ideal beauty standards. Societal pressures propel girls to compensate for
behaviors seen as too masculine by making certain that their appearance is as feminine as
possible, even if that means taking excessive measures (Sheldon, 2004).
In 2002, an analysis was done on the educational software for preschoolers to look at
gender representations. The results showed significantly more male characters than female
characters, as displayed in the following table (Sheldon, 2004):

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In terms of personality traits, when looking at clipart, female characters were often more
passive, nurturing, and engaged in feminine stereotyped activities such as setting the table,
whereas male characters were more active, non-nurturing, and engaged in masculine stereotyped
activities such as setting wood. It was also discovered that girls were strongly engaged in
software with female main characters and feel more comfortable using that software. By limiting
girls options for female characters to identify with, software developers are keeping girls from
using their product but are also making it difficult for teachers to enable learners with diverse
backgrounds, characteristics, and abilities (Sheldon, 2004).
Perhaps a major source of the blame for the introduction of such media to children is the
parents. The expectancy-value theory of academic motivation holds parents accountable as the

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major environmental influence on the development of childrens self-perception of their ability in
different academic areas. According to Eccles model, in areas commonly gender stereotyped,
such as math, sports, etc., parents stereotypic beliefs about males and females abilities interact
with childrens individual characteristics in shaping the parents beliefs about their childrens
ability. Therefore, parents beliefs affect childrens self-perception of ability (Tomasetto,
Mirisola, Galdi, et.al. 2015).
When it comes to math in particular, a subject commonly viewed as male-dominated,
parents systematically tend to perceive their sons as more competent than their daughters in
math, regardless of their actual grades in their math classes. This bias appears to be directly
related to the extent to which parents enforce traditional gender stereotypes in math.
On a test that associated the subject of math with gender, boys associated it with their
own gender significantly more than the girls. Also, boys were more likely to pick boys as liking
to do math more than girls. What these results show is that both boys and girls indicate a
stronger association of math with boys than girls which is evidence for the math-gender
stereotype in youth (Cvencek, Greenwald, Meltzoff, 2016).
What these results conclude is that the gender stereotypes seen in American adults are
also widely found in elementary school children. They also reveal females weaker identification
with math than males do. What all of this suggests is that the math-gender stereotype develops at
a very early age and has a major influence on childrens identification with math before
differences in math achievement even come about.

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In relation to this trend of less females doing math-related subjects, those for fail to take
advanced math classes in high school are less likely to major in science, math, or engineering in
college (Correll, 2001). Children easily:
learn and internalize gender beliefs andthis internalization affects behavior
(Correll, 2001).
Because children are exposed to these stereotypes from so early on, they are learning
from the beginning what jobs to associate with their gender. When boys see males in the media
with professions in math and science, they are internalizing that that is the field they should enter
in when they grow up.
Along with gender and careers, in a poll of boys and girls, when asked when professions
they want to be when they grow up, the boys answers consisted of pro athletes, firemen,
engineers, and astronauts all male-dominated fields in modern day. The girls responded with
teachers and bakers professions that are commonly associated with females, as shown in the
graph below:

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A 2002 study showed that girls showed greater flexibility in their career aspirations,
ruling out fewer options than males. Boys aspired to be in careers that were higher in education
and that had more prestige than the jobs that the girls preferred. This continues to be the case so
many years later as males continue to dominate the math and science fields and women take on
more domestic responsibilities. This information is significant because it could suggest that
people are going into careers that they are not actually passionate about; rather, they are going
into the fields that they feel society is pushing them to go into. This reflects the strong power that
social norms have, so much to the point that people are willing to sacrifice their dream job for
what society thinks about them.
Several studies have examined that childrens occupational knowledge changes over
time. Therefore, they are more likely to change what they want to be as time goes on (McMahon,
Watson, 2003). The previous research suggests that it could be gender stereotypes that are
causing this. As they get older and social pressure and conformity becomes more of a problem,
children are more likely alter their career aspirations based on cultural norms.
Despite this negativity of the power of stereotypes, the enlightening news is that many
companies are making efforts to remove such stereotypes from their stores and products.
Following customer complaints, Target has announced that they will begin to remove genderbased descriptions for childrens toys and items in their stores. Additionally, in 2014, Lego
introduced its Research Institute play set with a females working in the math and science
professions, fields mainly dominated by males:
In 2014, when Lego introduced its Research Institute play set that included a female
chemist, astronomer and paleontologist figurines, liberal blog ThinkProgress argued that
the toys very existence could combat current gender equality issues like gender
disparities in science and technology jobs. New Lego figures cant fix all of those

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problems, ThinkProgress reported. But they could get some girls hooked on science
who might have otherwise thought they shouldnt be interested (Johnson, 2015).
The fact that stores and companies are working towards getting rid of gender stereotypes
in their displays and products is promising. It shows that gender stereotypes have been seen as a
problem by so much of society that companies are actively working to create change to please
their customers. If businesses continue to do this, then it is possible that American society could
be seeing dramatic changes in gender stereotypes, and therefore, childrens esteem and career
aspirations, quite soon.
The strongest message to be sent from all of this is to the parents. As their childrens main
role models and providers, they are the ones who are most responsible for the implementation of
these stereotypes into their kids lives. Because kids have the ability to internalize it all from the
age of a preschooler, parents must be mindful of the books and toys they allow their children to
play with. As companies are working to make new products, society should be taking full
advantage of them and buy them for their children to avoid what is happening now. Preschoolers
are drawn to the extremes of the big, muscular action figures and the flawless dolls that they see
on a daily basis on television. Luckily, there are a number of things that parents can do, such as
encouraging play with both genders, reinforcing behaviors that shatter gender stereotypes, and
question generalizations with their kids.
This research provides multiple examples of the ways in which young children are
introduced to gender stereotypes as well as the impacts they have on their future. The subject is
relevant to children of all ages, and therefore should certainly be addressed. Gender stereotypes
are extremely difficulty to break, but steps backward are being made. While attempts are being
made to prevent this, it should still be seen as a problem that must be fixed for the benefit of

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societys children. Gendered advertising must return to the way that it was in the 1970s, when
toys were not targeted towards boys or towards girls. By the mid-1990s, all children were seeing
on advertisements were girls playing with their kitchen sets and boys with their airplanes. Now,
the tide is finally started to turn, and we must ensure that the cycle never repeats itself. Perhaps
the elimination of gender stereotypes can lead to the same effect for stereotypes of all kinds, as
minorities in genders struggle to make choices based purely on intrinsic motivation. Getting rid
of this would cause an immediate domino effect. Higher self-esteem would lead to career choices
based on interest, which would drastically alter the statistics of genders and professions, all of
which ultimately will lead to a society free of social barriers and full of success.

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