Gender-role cognition in three-year-old boys and girls

Although the multimensionality of gender roles has been well established fe w researchers have investigated male and female roles separately. Because o f the substantial differences in the ways male and female roles are portray ed in our culture, boys and girls may think and learn about these roles dif ferently. The male role is more clearly refined, more highly valued, and mo re salient than the female role; thus, children's cognitions about these tw o roles may be expected to differ The present study addressed the question of whether there is se,lc-typical variation in gender labeling, gender-role knowledge, and schematicity. Participants were 120 families; 15% were from minority ethnic groups, and 17% were single-parent families; 25% of the pa rents had a high school education or less. Results indicated that at 36 mon ths of age, boys were less able to label gender and less knowledgeable abou t gender roles than were girls. Boys' knew move about male stereotypes than female stereotypes, whereas girls knew considerably more than boys about t he female role and as much as boys about the male role. Boys and girls were found to be similar in gender schematicity. Traditionality of parental att itudes regarding childrearing and maternal employment were not strongly rel ated to children's gender cognition.