Impact Of Gender Stereotypes On Children's Preferences Of Toys And Activities

Play - it brings joy! A fun, imaginative, metaphorical rehearsal of the adult world, this medium of interaction is the most preferred one as we learn and experience in a safe place. It is an essential part for the children as play facilitates learning. It even helps in testing out and practicing different social roles. But why does each sex stick to its own gendered appropriate play - a script that their culture provides?

One way children learn gender roles is through play. Studies have shown that children will most likely choose to play with “gender appropriate” toys even when cross-gender toys are available because parents give children positive feedback (in the form of praise, involvement, and physical closeness) for gender-normative behavior.

Talking about sex in India is considered to be a taboo, resulting in nil sex education and awareness about the other sexualities and gender that exists. Our society believes that every family must have a male and a female to reproduce and to ensure the survival of family genes. In India around 10% of the population is non-heterosexual. They are seen as deceptive individuals who are facing discrimination, prejudice and negative behavior. The lack of civil rights for the LGBT population is an obvious indication of societal discrimination.

Gender has become something we should fit into with many stereotypes surrounding these gender roles. The problem starts with a very young age with children being subjected to play gender roles associated with their biological sex. We experience the young audience use terms such as "gay" as cuss words. It is necessary to push the boundaries of what is socially acceptable as little do they know about gender. Boys and girls are treated differently from birth. From decorating their rooms differently to dressing them differently, there is a spectrum of gendered actions that we engage in. Play helps children learn about their world and gain key social, intellectual, language and motor skills. Research shows both parents and non-parents tend to purchase gender-stereotyped toys for children, especially boys. Girls have more dolls, dolls houses, musical items and miniature domestic items while boys do have dolls in the form of action figures, we are more likely to purchase them sports equipment, toy animals, miniature garages and forts.

Puberty is an exciting time that challenges both the children and parents to deal with the physical, mental, and emotional changes that take place.

Adolescence is when they start understanding their body and have witnessed the gender stereotypes in and around their space. That being said, we can agree that parents and the people around direct children towards games and toys that enhance gender differences in play and interaction and provide gender typed environment.

Infants as early as 10 months start to form stereotypes based on the objects and voices surrounding them. However, the situation worsens when one starts growing up. As young children develop, they begin to explore gender roles and what it means to be a boy or a girl. The cultures provide expectations for boys and girls, limiting them to the opportunities available in their settings. Moreover, school structures tend to reinforce these perceptions as well as there, more peers of both sex is available as play mates. Children are separated by sex in the classroom, on the playground, in the hallway, and wherever they have freedom of movement.

In India, media is viewed as the fourth pillar of democracy. Media can shape one's opinion and has a major role in today's unaware world. But apart from having the power which can make the guilty innocent, it also has the strength to make an innocent guilty.

Developments in mass media are bound to affect the manner in which it scrutinizes and covers any issue – gender being an important one. Women are also major consumers of mass media and thus the way they are represented in media coverage is a major concern for the discipline. Media and advertising plays a major role in children's preferences of toys and activities. Though there have been positive changes in the way sexes are portrayed in films and in television, there still exists quite a few stereotypes relating to sex and gender. When young children gather in play groups, boys are more likely to enact fictional, superhero roles portrayed on television for example, “Power Rangers”, whereas girls are more likely to portray familial characters for example, “Cinderella”.

Research has found that when children receive exposure over time to nontraditional media portrayals of adult occupations, they may be influenced to realize, for example, that men can be nurses and women can be doctors or airline pilots.

What commercial television does is promote children's preferences for gender stereotyped toys and activities leading to manufacturing of clothing, toys and games targeted for children.