The Role of Family, School, and Media in Gender Socialization- Analyzing Institutional Influences on Gender Development

The Role of Family, School, and Media in Gender Socialization- Analyzing Institutional Influences on Gender Development

Gender socialization is the process by which children learn and understand people’s cultures, gender-related social expectations, rules, norms, attitudes, and behaviors typically associated with boys and girls. When discussing gender socialization, it is important to distinguish between gender and sex. Sex is determined at birth by looking at the anatomy of the newborn to determine whether it is male or female. In contrast, gender is a social identity resulting from cultural conceptions of masculinity and femininity (“ThoughtCo.com is the World’s Largest Education Resource,” 2022). Gender socialization has three main institutions: family, school, and the media. Our assignment writing services will allow you to attend to more important tasks as our experts handle your task.

Generally, parents, siblings, and other family members play a huge role in gender socialization. Parents play the most important role since they are present in an infant’s everyday life in most cases. They are the ones to teach children how to be disciplined and responsible by using different parenting techniques. Consequently, parents get to choose the environment they feel is best for their children and choose schools for them. They also choose toys for their children depending on their gender. For instance, female infants mainly get Barbie dolls, pink dolls, and cooking games, whereas male infants get car toys and video games.

There are four major parenting techniques (Benokraitis, 2019). First is authoritarian parenting, whereby a parent can control a child’s behavior and discipline by being harsh and unresponsive. The second is authoritative parenting, whereby a parent is warm but expects the children to behave maturely. Next, the third is permissive parenting, where parents set rules but are still involved and are warm. Finally, there is uninvolved parenting, where parents spend little to no time with their kids and focus on their own needs. Older siblings play a major role since they can guide the younger ones with social life and challenges and protect them from any harm and danger.

As children grow older, they meet age mates of the same and different sexes with whom they can make friends and play. This is important and healthy in children’s lives since children learn through peer groups, and quiet children can open up. They learn new skills from each other and exercise their minds by playing simple games. Peers can also protect each other from bullies in school and report in case of anything. When children get to their teenage ages, friends can help in sexual-related problems, relationships, and mental health. Although not all friends can be helpful, children need to have the ability to choose friends wisely to avoid getting into drugs, missing classes, and early pregnancy.

When children turn four or five, it is only natural for them to join school. Teachers play a major role second to parents since they are with the kids from kindergarten and help teach them discipline, etiquette, and general school knowledge. Schools, in general, also teach students about other cultures around the world and teach them to be respectful and mindful about how they treat people of different cultures. Most teachers around offer guidance and counseling to the kids to prevent cases such as sexual immorality, which can lead to immature pregnancy and diseases, racism, and bullying. According to Stromquist (2007), research has shown that male students are appreciated more and shown more attention, which extends to early life occupation and politics, such as in Sweden and the USA.

Finally, since technology has been rapidly improving since the early centuries, it has become a part of people’s lives and children’s lives in different ways. Children engage in media by watching cartoons, playing video games, and owning phones with access to apps such as TikTok and Instagram. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that to ensure children’s brain development, they should have less time on screen and social media and instead be active physically by playing or reading (Benokraitis, 2019). Generally, parents should control children’s time on social media to prevent children from engaging in bad and harmful behavior.

To summarize, all factors (family, school, and the media) play an important role in gender socialization. They all need attention to ensure the children are brought up well and mannered to a parents’ and community’s desire.

References

Benokraitis, N. (2019). SOC 6. Cengage Learning, Inc.

ThoughtCo.com is the World’s Largest Education Resource. ThoughtCo. (2022). Retrieved 26 March 2022, from https://www.thoughtco.com/.

Stromquist, N. P. (2007). The gender socialization process in schools: A cross-national comparison. Background Paper Prepared for the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2008.

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Write a 500 or more word paper about the three leading institutions in gender socialization: family, school, and the media. In your paper also:

The Role of Family, School, and Media in Gender Socialization- Analyzing Institutional Influences on Gender Development

Describe how these institutions affect gender socialization.

include contemporary issues and terminology from our textbook to support your descriptions.