Challenging stereotypes

TRAINING

Richard Knight, early years development officer at the Alliance, explains how gendered stereotypes can impact children in the early years

Richard is an early years development manager at the Alliance. He is responsible for writing workshops and developing bespoke training packages for providers.

As educators, we know that play matters. Children need a wide range of activities to develop different skills and as part of our work we should be critically reflective of our practice and environments. We need to be prepared to challenge our own beliefs and the stereotypes we may indirectly hold. We should consider the language and attitudes we are using to communicate.

Stereotypes are generalised beliefs about groups of people. Gender stereotypes tend to be based around what is usually expected of women and girls, and men and boys. These rules of thumb become established and can act as limitations for people. Assumptions that everyone in these groups is the same can evolve into barriers.

Marketing is often heavily gendered, with toys often communicating stereotypes that limit children’s choices. This can affect their self-image and self-esteem and in turn limit their expectations. For example, toy manufacturers often market more active and aggressive toys at boys and more passive toys to girls. In picture books, women and girls are often portrayed as performing more domestic tasks while men and boys can be underrepresented as caregivers.

Research shows that children tend to demonstrate gendered preferences in terms of the toys they play with and that this trend increases with age. We can easily link this to the stereotypes about what type of play is acceptable.

By the time children join your early years provision, they may already be developing gender-based expectations of behaviours and perceived abilities. These stereotypical views can shape their attitudes to relationships, future participation in the world of work and can affect their wellbeing. Views such as “boys need to be tough” and the idea that it’s important for girls to be pretty can be unhelpful for both boys and girls.

Although this is a multifaceted problem, educators have an important role to play in challenging these views before they become too established. While of course children should not be coerced into activities, adopting the attitude that children can choose for themselves will not counteract the problem alone. Many children self-select certain activities based on their observations of what is appropriate. It is therefore crucial that all children are given opportunities and encouragement across all areas of the curriculum so that they have equal opportunities in the future.

What can we do in our early years provision? Here are some ideas:

Encourage children to engage with a range of activities.
Praise and be supportive of children when they take part in activities that disrupt gender stereotypes.
Offer children a wide range of worldviews.
Try to use non-gendered language when talking to children.
Have conversations about gender with children.

Communicating with parents and carers

When making changes to your provision, we know it is important to engage families in the process to avoid any misunderstandings about the rationale behind the changes. It’s also important to avoid giving the impression that any of the changes being instigated are in any way a comment on parenting choices.

We can involve parents and carers in this process by:

Explaining ideas through newsletters or social media.
Adding suggestions to story sacks to prompt and support parents to challenge gender stereotypes at home.
Inviting male parents/carers to participate in activities to counteract the perception that only women care or nurture, particularly if the setting is predominantly staffed by female educators.

Tackling unconscious bias

We all have unconscious biases. It’s important to be aware of these in our interactions with children. They affect the ways we interact with children and can lead us to make assumptions. Having an unconscious gender bias does not make a person sexist – everyone has biases to some degree as a result of years of exposure to gendered patterns.

The good news is that once we become aware of our biases, we can do something about them. By shifting thinking gradually over time, a person can adopt new habits and perspectives to help counteract any biased behaviour.

Extensive research by early childhood experts, including neuroscientists, psychologists and educationalists tells us that boys and girls are much more alike than different. As society continues to learn about gender fluidity, we have a responsibility to the children in our care to ensure that we are gender-free in terms of resources, experiences and language so our children can grow into well-rounded and confident young people with a positive sense of self.

This was adapted from an Alliance mini-guide. To download more guides, visit the Members’ Area at portal.eyalliance.org.uk.

April’s Virtual Classroom of the month – 30% off!

An introduction to gender bias - gender stereotyping in early childhood
21 April, 9.30am - 1pm

A Virtual Classroom workshop giving an introduction to gender bias, gender stereotyping in early childhood.

To book your place, visit bit.ly/genderMarchU5

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