1. What is gender stereotype and how did it come about?
The so-called gender stereotype is people's fixed views or beliefs about the behavior and personality characteristics of men and women. It is not necessarily based on facts, nor does it consider individual differences. It is just a fixed concept in people's minds, which makes people firmly believe that a certain gender role has certain characteristics. For example, people may think that men are independent, decisive, the head of the family and can take on greater responsibilities; Women, on the other hand, are more gentle and emotional, doing housework and taking care of children.
Children's gender stereotype is based on the understanding and development of gender roles. As soon as the baby was born, the process of gender role socialization began. Parents choose the color of the baby, the color of the room, the type of toys, the style of clothes and so on. According to the different sexes of children, gender education began. In the process of learning to distinguish between men and women, children are influenced by family, media and education, which in turn affects children's choice of toys, courses and occupations to a certain extent, and affects their individual behavior and motivation. There are undeniable differences between men and women, but the stereotype of gender roles between men and women is unreasonable. Children who do not fully conform to people's understanding of specific gender behaviors may be excluded, under unnecessary pressure, and the choice of playmates and game types will also be affected, which is not conducive to the cultivation of their perfect personality. Therefore, kindergarten teachers need to infiltrate relevant gender education into children's daily activities and weaken children's gender stereotypes.
Second, how to deal with children's gender stereotypes in role games
As one of the most important forms of children's games, role games involve a lot of role selection processes, which will largely reflect the gender stereotypes that children are used to. Unreasonable role setting may strengthen and aggravate children's stereotype of gender roles. On the other hand, if we adjust the settings of role games according to children's performance and adopt certain strategies, we can effectively reduce the adverse effects of stereotypes on children.
(1) The setting of corners should be diversified.
With the growth of age, children are more inclined to choose content that is consistent with their gender when playing games. For example, boys will go to the "police station" and girls will choose the "doll house" more. While ensuring this corner activity with typical gender characteristics, teachers should design more game areas suitable for boys and girls to play together, such as restaurants, hospitals, studios, banks, Olympic venues and so on. Let more children participate in it, give play to their advantages and meet different needs.
Encourage children to choose roles that transcend gender.
Because boys tend to choose creative games and violent sports games that require logical thinking, they prefer roles such as architects, firefighters, policemen, drivers and fathers. Girls like quiet, imitative and caring roles, such as mother, aunt, nurse and teacher. If this situation is fixed, even rigid, or if someone does not follow this rule and is questioned or accused by other children, the teacher needs to intervene as necessary. Children can be encouraged to change roles, such as girls playing policewomen and architects, boys playing teachers and nurses, or everyone taking turns being mothers, so that they can feel different roles, behaviors and emotional experiences. In this way, children will realize that some professional roles are not suitable for people of fixed gender, increase their recognition of their respective roles, and thus reduce the stereotype of professional roles.
(C) enrich the tasks of various roles
Many times, children have limited understanding of the tasks they play, which easily leads to simplification and rigidity of the tasks. Teachers can guide children to discuss what work needs to be done in each profession and whether it can be shown in the game, so as to deepen children's understanding of the role. For example, in the "Dollhouse", mothers have to go to work besides taking care of their children. At this time, if the father has time, he can help take care of the baby or clean the house, and he doesn't have to go out to work or buy things. The police should direct traffic, maintain order, and sometimes take care of the elderly and children in need; After the architect completes the building, he must design the interior decoration and layout, and do some meticulous handwork ... This diversified role will make children more interested and more conducive to their development.
(four) the selection and delivery of materials and toys should pay attention to avoid stereotypes.
Research shows that gender stereotypes have obvious influence on children's toy choices, especially at the age of 4-5. Previous studies have also shown that parents may buy masculine toys such as trucks for their young daughters, but they will avoid buying feminine toys such as dolls for their sons; Boys who play anti-stereotype toys in games are more likely to be criticized and corrected by their peers than girls, which shows that boys are more influenced by gender stereotypes. This requires teachers to pay special attention to this aspect in the game. For example, when boys do manual exercises, they should affirm and encourage them in time, advocate more boys to choose materials that need fine processing, and cultivate their patience and delicate quality. For girls, we should also encourage them to play more structural toys to enhance their thinking logic and sports equipment to enhance their physique and endurance. In addition, children's choice of roles is sometimes limited by the materials provided by teachers, especially the materials needed for those roles that have been finalized. For example, the apron of "Auntie" may be not only red, but also solid or cool; Restaurant "waiters" don't have to wear flower headscarves, but can be represented by more neutral badges; The background wall of the "police station" can be pasted with photos of policewomen. These all need the careful arrangement of the teacher.
(e) Speech enhancement in game sharing activities.
Children are very dependent and regard teachers as almost absolute authority. Sharing activities in the game process are an important part of teacher-child communication. Teachers should first pay attention not to unconsciously reinforce children's gender stereotypes. For example, teachers can say "don't be afraid" and "don't be naughty", but don't say "boys shouldn't be so timid" and "girls shouldn't be so naughty". In addition, we should consciously use the role of speech reinforcement to weaken the stereotype of the role. When it comes to policewomen and architects, we can say, "So-and-so's performance today is really brave, really decisive and great!" "Look how tall and strong the house is!" When talking about "male waiter" and "male aunt", you can say: "There are many guests in the restaurant today because of XXX's warm and thoughtful service!" "Aunt's meal today is delicious, and the baby is full. I want to eat these dishes tomorrow! " This can increase children's interest in anti-stereotyped roles and reduce prejudice between them.
Preschool period is a critical period for children's understanding and development of gender roles. In the process of gender education for children, possible gender role stereotypes should be avoided. Through the design and guidance of role games, teachers can increase the possibility of children experiencing and understanding various gender roles, thus gradually helping children to form a diversified gender role identity.