Occupation Fascination: A Study of Gender Role Stereotypes in Young Children

Overview

Objectives/Goals The purpose of this experiment was to investigate gender role stereotypes among young children. It was hypothesized that if the gender of a child affects whether he or she will draw a picture of a male or female in a certain professional role, then more males will draw a man and more females will draw a woman in the role. Methods/Materials Fifty kindergarten children were asked to draw figures of a veterinarian and a karate black belt, two professions typically populated by males. They were given 15 minutes to draw with assorted crayons on white paper. After they had finished their drawings, they were asked to name each figure. The pages were then collected and analyzed to determine the gender portrayed in the drawings. Results When the drawings were analyzed, the results showed that 24 out of the 25 girls drew female veterinarians, and 16 out of the 25 boys drew male veterinarians. Only one boy drew a female black belt, and 17 out of the 25 girls drew female black belts. Conclusions/Discussion To summarize, the girls tended to draw females in those professions, and the boys tended to draw males in those professions. Even though the hypothesis in this study was supported, it remains unclear whether the boys were acting on stereotypical beliefs of gender roles, and whether the girls showed more flexibility in their gender stereotypes.

Awards (1)

• Second Place

Competition history

• CSEF 2017 Behavioral & Social Sciences · Entry J0410

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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