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Drawing Gender Stereotypes: British and Argentinian Children’s Graphic Representations of ‘Female’ and ‘Male’ Occupations

VIVALDI, Romina and ROSE, Sarah (2019) Drawing Gender Stereotypes: British and Argentinian Children’s Graphic Representations of ‘Female’ and ‘Male’ Occupations. In: The British Psychological Society's Annual Meeting: The Psychological Impact of Inequality, May 1st - May 2nd, 2019, Harrogate, UK.

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Abstract or description

Objective
The aim was to compare gender and age differences in Argentinian and British children’s perceptions of female and male stereotyped occupations.
Design
A persistent gender-inequality in occupational differences and evidence suggests that these gender-role stereotypes develop early in childhood. Previous research has predominantly used questionnaire techniques to assess children’s explicit beliefs and where drawings have been used only male-stereotyped occupations have been examined. Therefore, this study is novel in its use of drawings and interviews to investigate implicit assumptions of male and female gender-stereotyped occupations. Furthermore, this research compares the assumptions of children from two age groups and two cultures with contrasting gender gap reports.
Method
Two hundred and forty 6-to-7-year-olds and 10-to-11-year-olds from cities in Britain and Argentina drew and named five human figures: (i) person of their choice, ii) dancer, iii) babysitter iv) firefighter and v) pilot). Each child completed a semi-structured interview in which they confirmed the gender and provided justification for their gender choices for each drawing. All drawings and interviews were coded by a rater blind to the age and country of the drawer.
Results
Children from both countries and age groups showed evidence of gender-role stereotyping, with one exception (Argentinian 10-11 year-olds’ ‘dancer’; p. 189). Although drawings suggested some cross cultural differences justifications for gender choices differed across age but less so between sexes and cultures.
Conclusions
Occupational gender-stereotypes develop early, but not universally. Older children increasingly justify their gender choices on their own experiences suggesting that over time their views might alter.

Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Poster)
Faculty: School of Life Sciences and Education > Psychology
Event Title: The British Psychological Society's Annual Meeting: The Psychological Impact of Inequality
Event Location: Harrogate, UK
Event Dates: May 1st - May 2nd, 2019
Depositing User: Romina VIVALDI
Date Deposited: 30 May 2019 14:24
Last Modified: 24 Feb 2023 13:55
Related URLs:
URI: https://eprints.staffs.ac.uk/id/eprint/5632

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