The Role of Parents’ Gender Stereotyped Attitudes and Gender Typed Toy Preferences in Children’s Future Career Aspirations

Gender roles play a significant role in the lives of many individuals. One important area in which gender roles have a prominent impact is the career choices of children. Children’s attitudes and beliefs about vocational interests are often shaped by the values and beliefs held by their parents, as well as the toys that they play with during childhood. This dissertation will review existing literature about how parents’ gender stereotyped attitudes and gender-typed toys can influence children’s perception of gender roles and their career preferences

The Social and Economic Consequences of Gendered Toys in America

Toys in the American marketplace are heavily gender stereotyped, creating a variety of social and economic consequences. Beginning at an early age, children foster different cognitive abilities based on play with toys deemed appropriate for their gender. While boys’ toys promote skills in math and science fields, girls’ toys promote verbal and linguistic skills. This difference in cognitive ability has shown to influence a child throughout his or her lifetime, beginning with the education gap in schools and continuing on to influence a child’s choice in college major as well as his or her future occupational choice. Additionally, gender specific toys are raising concern about promoting violence in young boys and an obsession with appearance in young girls. While it is clear that children historically prefer toys designated for their own gender, this paper concludes that children’s preferences in toys are heavily influenced by parental, teacher and societal expectations regarding which toys are appropriate for each gender. Lastly, this paper aims to explore the future consequences of toy segregation as well as several potential solutions to gendered toys in the marketplace

Painting the Leaky Pipeline Pink: Girl Branded Media and the Promotion of STEM

This thesis provides a critical feminist analysis of girl branded media depictions of girls in STEM. Through close textual analysis of three case studies—Disney Fairies films, Barbie: Dreamhouse Adventures, and My Little Pony: Equestria Girls media—I found that such STEM promotion tends to emphasize traditional gender roles and neoliberal market values. Disney Fairies films promote traditional gender roles via portrayals of play STEM, white hegemony, and western beauty standards. Additionally, these films promote the neoliberal ideal of industrialization as consequence free. Dreamhouse Adventures depicts STEM in relation to traditional gender norms such as caretaking, heteronormativity, and girl culture. Furthermore, this show normalizes neoliberal market values such as surveillance, consumerism and entrepreneurship. Equestria Girls relates traditional gender roles and STEM in terms of feminized STEM portrayals, depicting girls in STEM as dangerous, and portraying pretend science that has no basis in reality. Ultimately, I argue that these two main themes contribute to the structure of the leaky pipeline, which serves as a central metaphor for the absence of women and minorities in STEM fields. Finally, I explore the implications of these themes, potential drawbacks of the leaky pipeline metaphor, and future possibilities for the promotion of girls in STEM

Children's experiences of engineering education activities in rural schools in England at age 9/10:the implications for engineering education and our approach to building engineering career aspirations in young people.

Schools in England are offered a range of activities aiming to engage students with engineering and increase the number who progress to engineering careers. However, monitoring of engineering education prior to university remains limited, and low progression rates onto engineering courses persist in the UK. Although the majority of engineering education provision had historically been aimed at secondary level education, the lack of visible results encouraged a more recent move towards provision for younger children. The current research set out to explore primary school children’s participation in Engineering Education Activities (EEAs); to achieve this, experiences of one-off EEAs were investigated from the first-person perspective of the children who participated in them. A case study approach was employed, using exploratory observations and semi-structured interviews to collect data from two cases across three school years (Year 5 to Year 7). The meta-analysis of the data, using a grounded theory approach, enabled a conceptual framework to be constructed. The framework facilitates an understanding of children’s experiences of EEAs, providing a foundation upon which to build, contributing knowledge to the field through the identification of a number of important concepts and their previously unacknowledged inter-relationships; most significantly, the emergence of the concept of Engineering Capital, and the importance of the formation of engineering self-efficacy at a young age. This research found that participation in the observed EEAs did not impart accurate perceptions of engineering to the children involved, leading to complex outcomes of participation, with the children’s personally held definitions of engineering appearing to influence their experiences of the EEAs and their engineering career aspirations. This work concluded that participation in an activity that does not impart accurate definitions of professional engineering to children, or build engineering self-efficacy, will have little positive impact upon their engineering career aspiration

Understanding STEM Identity Construction: An ethnography of an all-girls STEM club

This qualitative ethnography follows 11 high-school girls through their experiences in an all-girls after-school STEM club in a privileged school setting. This study uses Gee’s concept of identity and a feminist poststrutural framework to understand their experiences and how they use the club to re/construct their gendered STEM identities. Through interviews, focus groups, observations, and document analysis, this study found that the after-school club offers girls a space to not only learn about STEM, but also provides a space for girls to understand the gendered nature of their interactions with peers and adults in STEM classrooms. Data shows that girls encounter gender bias and stereotyping in STEM classrooms and that GEMS helps girls identify these experiences. Regular and sustained participation in the club allows girls to develop peer-mentorship relationships, helps them to identify barriers they may face, and to create meaning from their experiences in the club. The results of this study show how Gee’s discourse-identity and affinity-identity can work together to offer an alternative pathway for girls to develop a STEM identity. Additionally, feminist poststucturalism highlights the ways that patriarchal discourse of STEM is infused into classroom spaces and how this club, and those like it, provides a space for girls to develop agency, resistance and freedom and an opportunity to re-create a more inclusive STEM discourse that informs their gendered STEM identity. The STEM identity that girls develop in GEMS supports their active and informed resistance of barriers and creation of more gender equitable STEM spaces. Other studies that examine after school STEM clubs are mostly situated in middle schools or colleges and rarely examine sites of privilege. This study starts to fill a gap in the literature by examining the experiences of high school girls in an affluent school

Science starts early: A literature review examining the influence of early childhood teachers’ perceptions of gender on teaching practices

Women are underrepresented in science fields as compared to men and although much research has been dedicated to understanding this disparity, most has been conducted on older aged children. However, this excludes the youngest and arguably most impressionable group of students: preschoolers. This study reviewed the literature to investigate how early childhood teachers’ perceptions of gender influence their teaching practices. Qualitative analysis and coding of 31 articles resulted in five main categories: Teacher Perception, Curriculum, Teacher Interactions, Gender Identity, and Social Standing. Results are discussed in the context of early childhood science teaching practices to better understand the role of the teacher and gender bias in young children’s preschool science experiences and how it may impact their future science interests

Science education for girls: A partnership between Girl Scouts and Nasa

This study investigated the evolution of the relationship between NASA and the Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA). The stories of three groups of key players; NASA, Girl Scout National Staff, and Girl Scout volunteers explained the scope and depth of this unique partnership. Common goals between GSUSA and NASA of encouraging girls to seek careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) were studied to determine if the goals were met as a result of this collaboration. Outcomes such as the Memorandum of Understanding, numbers of attendees at workshops, and artifact reviews aided in the collection of data; The partnership between the Girl Scouts and NASA has not been without strife, and barriers such as funding and communication has delayed the goals of both organizations. Nevertheless, a partnership was forged and has grown since its inception in early 2001. Each of these national organizations has its own way of work and its own culture. How then can two such large organizations find the common ground to partner together and create a new culture shared between them with a common mindset?;The timeline of how and when the two organizations began their collaborations and the outcome of their partnership was evaluated. Examination of the Girl Scout culture and goals as they are related to science was compared to the NASA goals of introducing more girls to STEM careers. The impact effect of how many different workshops, events, camps with space themes was analyzed. Girl Scout adult volunteers\u27 attitudes and beliefs about science were explored to determine if changes in beliefs occurred as a result of the experiences with NASA. Ultimately, data were scrutinized to determine if the relationship is sustainable and what efforts each organization must take to maintain a high-leveled partnership

Built for Boyhood?: A Proposal for Reducing the Amount of Gender Bias in the Advertising of Children\u27s Toys on Television

While the last half-century has seen a dramatic increase in the number of US women in the workforce, women remain under represented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields. For years, researchers and social commentators have tried to explain the persistence of this gender gap. Some have even argued that genetic differences explain women\u27s inability to excel in the hard sciences. This Article asserts that the impact of socialization on children\u27s educational and occupational choices has been greatly underestimated. Specifically, the toys that are marketed to boys teach spatial skills that prepare boys for STEM careers. Conversely, the toys that are advertised to girls focus on relationships, housework, beauty, and fashion. Girls denied the opportunity to develop scientific ability eventually lose interest in STEM careers. Thus, it is critical that girls be encouraged to play with a variety of toys at an early age. However, television advertisements all but tell girls that science is not for them. Congress has the power to address this issue. Children are exposed to toys primarily through television advertising. Broadcast airwaves affect interstate commerce, thereby making advertising a form of commerce. Therefore, Congress can--and should--use its powers under the Commerce Clause to regulate gender bias in the advertising of children\u27s toys on television. Moreover, Congress can take this action without violating the strictures outlined by the US Supreme Court in Central Hudson Gas and Electric v. Public Service Commission

This is What Stem Looks Like! How to Get and Keep Girls Engaged in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math

Nationally, and in Colorado, the demand for a skilled STEM workforce is growing and STEM jobs offer higher salaries than non-STEM jobs. Women working in STEM jobs earn, on average, 33 percent more than those in other fields, yet women account for only 29 percent of the STEM workforce.  In Colorado, women earn more than 50 percent of two-year and four-year degrees, but less than a third of Colorado graduates in STEM are women.  Women's under-representation in STEM fields starts early, with gender gaps in STEM interests beginning in middle school and growing throughout high school, college, and career. Far too many girls and women are discouraged from pursuing success in STEM fields.We've created this guide to introduce parents, caregivers, and educators to the many opportunities that STEM can provide for girls and women. You'll find resources to help girls explore and prepare for those opportunities and tools to inspire, motivate, and prepare young women to thrive in STEM careers. In addition to tools for creating exciting, hands-on learning experiences, the guide includes: an overview of the status of girls and women in STEM in Colorado, definitions of STEM-related terms, and a call to action. Each chapter includes strategies that are specific to a certain age group, as well as benchmarks to strive for in each stage of girls' lives to prepare them for future STEM opportunities. You might also see some repetition in concepts as they are relevant for girls of many ages. We've included a sampling of the many STEM resources available locally, statewide, and from across the nation

Adult Characteristics Associated With Gender-Typed Toy Ratings

The toys with which children play shape their development in several domains (Trawick-Smith, Russell, & Swaminathan, 2011). Exclusive or primary play with gender-typed toys may limit children\u27s development, because toys considered appropriate for boys, girls, or both have different characteristics (Blakemore & Centers, 2005; Serbin & Connor, 1979). Especially in infancy and early childhood, children\u27s toy play is affected by adults (parent and nonparent), who may differentially provide access to and/or reinforce play with different toys (Kane, 2006). The variability in adults\u27 attitudes regarding the gender-appropriateness of toys is not well-understood.;The purpose of this study was to examine the relations between nonparent adults\u27 attitudes about the gender-appropriateness of toys and other beliefs and attitudes. For a sample of 417 nonparent college students (N=417), several dimensions of participants\u27 gender belief systems, including hostile sexism, benevolent sexism, neosexism, and beliefs about homosexuality, including homonegativity and beliefs about the etiology of homosexuality, were related to their gender-typed ratings of toys. Male participants rated toys in a more gender-typed way, and female-stereotypical toys were rated in a more gender-typed way than male-stereotypical toys. This research contributes to knowledge about motivations for adults\u27 socialization of gendered behavior in children