Gender Socialization in Families

Gender Socialization in Families Name of Student Institution Affiliation Gender Socialization in Families Introduction Gender socialization has always been a topic of heated discussion. It is something that has been going on since the very beginning of time, and it is still relevant and important. The social identity of the newborn child is something that has a huge impact on shaping their lives. In gender socialization, both society and family have a different expectation from a girl or a boy in terms of behaviors and attitudes. Gender socialization is the tendency in which both the male and female are socialized in a way that is different from each other so that they can play their respected role in society. Gender role is defined as a set of different personality attributes, attitudes, and behaviors that are expected from a person according to their respected gender. The very first understanding and practice of gender socialization are started from the family. Different cultures around the world have different rules regarding the appropriateness for both male and female. These set of rules significantly impact a person’s life and how they perceive the world around them. In this paper, the impact of family in gender socialization is discussed in detail. Moreover, the different elements of gender socialization are also discussed. Discussion Importance of Gender Socialization One of the earliest social categories that a child learns about is gender. After the age of 3, children start learning about the gender stereotypes of their respected culture. After this age, they also recognized their gender and started acting accordingly (Carter, 2014). The process of gender socialization immensely influences the upbringing of the children. Through this process, children learn about the different roles they are expected to play according to their gender (Barbarin & Jean‐Baptiste, 2013). They learn the sense of correctness and wrongness through it. They grasp the concept of their gender identity and play great attention towards their gender detail so they can play their role according to the expectation of their family as well as society (Carter, 2014). The primary and very first socialization sources for the children are their parents and siblings (Barbarin & Jean‐Baptiste, 2013). They start learning about the various concepts regarding gender through them. At the start, they demonstrate preference towards their gender and show discrimination towards the other gender. For example, they would prefer to play and to interact with the peers of their gender groups. This sometimes becomes an issue as they later have to function in a mixed gender settings, i.e. school. Therefore, the children have to play and have interaction with another gender as well as it would hugely affect their interpersonal communication skills in the future life. Role of Family and Primary Sources The primary sources of gender are the ones that impact shaping the development of gender identity the most. The very first sources include parents, peers, teachers and peers of children. The role of immediate family and teachers are discussed below: Parents. Parents are the ones who give the children their very first lesson regarding gender identity (Barbarin &...