Gender Sociolization

Gender Socialization Assignment

What does gender mean in our society? Gender, in our society, is a basis for inequality for assigning roles, rewards and responsibilities to the people. Gender stratification is the unequal distribution of wealth, power, and privilege between men and women. This shows how men and women face inequality throughout their lives due to our society. Gender socialization also plays a role in our society and how children learn what society defines a male and a female. An observation of children's toys shows us how children learn about gender socialization and how it perpetuates gender inequality.

After analyzing toys at Toys "R" Us I noticed a lot of differences between toys for boys and for girls. The toys that the store offered for the boys are toy cars, action figures (Ben 10, Iron man2, Batman, Transformers, etc.), guns, solders, etc. The toys for boys were identified by dark primary colors such as dark red, black, dark blue, silver and so on. Most of the toys represented aggression, competition, violence, and action. Kids that play with these toys when they are young most likely teach them how to be more aggressive.

On the other hand, the store did not offer much variety of toys for the girls. Some of the toys for girls were mostly dolls, doll dress up clothes, babies, plastic house ware appliances (easy bake ovens, plastic pin vacuums, etc). While observing the girl section of toys I mostly saw the color pink and other bright pastel colors. The toys symbolize caring, responsibilities and nurture. The baby dolls teach young girls how to become a nurturing and responsible mother when they grow up, where as, the easy bake toys and plastic vacuums teach young girls to be organize and responsible. However, there were some similarities between both gender toys like board games, flash cards, books, sports related toys such as skates, bikes, Frisbees, soccer balls and so on.

After looking at the toys that are in "Toys R Us" I have found a lot of differences between the toys. In my opinion, toys have a big role in impacting on gender socialization. For instance, if a young child plays with "feminine" toys this will often reinforce nurturing, caring and closeness. However, if the child plays with "masculine" toys this reinforce independence and competiveness. I also believe that the parents play a key role in choosing toys for their children and how they interact with them. For example, a boy is suppose to play tough and be a man; while, girls are suppose to be caring, friendly and polite.

Overall, toys have a major role in gender socialization. Toys tend to teach children how they are defined in our society. Boys' toys such as action figures, guns, solders represent aggression, completion, action and violence. On the other hand, girls' toys such as dolls, plastic houses and plastic babies all represents