ABSTRACT

When a baby is born, a key question everyone asks is, “Is it a boy or a girl?” As the baby develops, the ways in which it is treated by its parents and by other people are influenced by its sex. The growing child’s thoughts about itself and its place in the world increasingly depend on whether it is male or female. For example, most children label themselves and others accurately as male or female by the age of 2. By about the age of 3, almost two-thirds of children prefer to play with children of the same sex (La Freniere, 1984). From the age of 3 or 4, children have fairly fixed beliefs about the activities (e.g., housekeeping) and occupations (e.g., doctor, nurse) that are appropriate for males and females. These are known as gender-role stereotypes.