Society created standards that it expects community members to follow when socializing depending on assigned gender after birth. Failure to conform to these standards becomes prone to gender stereotypes leading to characterizing some people being different. Accordingly, gender socialization involves a learning process through which individuals are taught about the standard norms, values, and behaviors based on their assigned gender. Different social institutions like family, school, and the media play a significant role in promoting gender socialization. Schools promote gender socialization by condoning practices that encourage the vice, while families provide the basic level where children about gender identity and roles. The media has significantly influenced gender socialization by publicizing content that promotes gender socialization.
The family unit plays an essential role in promoting gender socialization because it serves a central role in children's lives. The family is the first institution where a child learns to socialize with others and understands his or her own identity. Gender socialization begins upon birth after the parents verify the sexuality of the infant, which influences the rest of that child's life. Parents introduce the initial lessons about gender socialization since they encourage children to engage in particular behaviors depending on one's gender identity. As a result, the child grows up and matures while still identifying with the specific behaviors taught at a tender age (Campbell, 2014) . Moreover, families introduce children into gender roles while still young by associating specific tasks with girls or boys. Families pass the habit from one generation to another, thus making it a part of social norms. Additionally, the family unit has stereotypical expectations about their children depending on the child's gender. For instance, parents are okay when their male children are more aggressive than when their girls take on this habit. Similarly, parents are likely to support their children to pursue specific careers depending on their gender affiliation. The above discussion demonstrates that the family institution is critical in developing gender socialization because it creates the foundation of children's learning from their tender age.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The school is another social institution that influences gender socialization for children by creating an environment that guides their interactions. Schools encourage gender differentiation through activities that children are encouraged to partake in a while at school, where teachers condone different practices between boys and girls. Furthermore, schools have played a significant role in promoting differentiation in children's skills and primary subjects based on their gender identity. For instance, for a prolonged period, teachers and stakeholders within the education sector created a perception that girls perform well in art studies while boys pursue sciences and excel. The practice influenced the careers that individuals pursued such that some careers show a dominance of one gender (Candidate & Molla, 2016) . Both teachers and peers influence gender socialization in schools as they provide feedback following the children's performance in both academic and extracurricular activities. For instance, in a school setting, children are likely to select their playmates based on their gender identity leading to same-sex segregation. Consequently, children will encourage stereotypical social practices, further enhancing the child's development behaviors that conform to the preferred gender. On the other hand, teachers encourage gender socialization by condoning practices that improve gender stereotypes among children. For example, most schools allow girls to keep long hair, while boys cannot keep their hair short. Consequently, the behavior and values reflect on the children's lives even after growing into an adult.
The media equally has a significant impact on children in promoting gender socialization because they encourage gender role stereotypes. The media demonstrates to have less significant roles compared to their male counterparts. Gender inequality is another factor that influences gender socialization in society since few women have opportunities to advertise products compared to men. Similarly, women are unlikely to have the lead roles in movies, and when given, they have an accompanying male lead character. Additionally, content creators produce gender-friendly content, including activities, games, and toys (Badaoui, 2016) . Furthermore, social media has consistently show that women are less able than men, which hinders their ability to acquire leadership positions. They also demonstrate violence against female employees in different organizations. The media has significantly promoted content and condone practices that promote gender differences between males and females and the misconception created against people that choose not to conform to the social standards. The exposure children have towards the media play a critical role in promoting gender socialization, and children learn to exercise the gender-based stereotypes.
Social institutions like family, schools, and the media have played an essential in promoting gender socialization among children. Families create a basic level where children learn about their gender identity and the preferred behavior and habits based on an individual's sexual orientation. On the other hand, schools promote gender socialization by encouraging practices that conform to gender stereotypes. Additionally, the media exposes children to the world's perception of sexuality, thus influencing their choices. Based on the above analysis, it is essential that parenting, schooling, and media promote gender-based content.
References
Badaoui, S. E. (2016). Gender-Based Portrayal as Media Form in Society. Global Media Journal , 14 (26). https://www.globalmediajournal.com/open-access/genderbased-portrayal-as-media-form-in-society.php?aid=76374
Campbell, L. (2014). Gender: early socialization | Parents’ Socialization of Gender in Children | Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development . Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development. http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/gender-early-socialization/according-experts/parents-socialization-gender-children
Candidate, P., & Molla, E. (2016). The Role Of School In Gender Socialization. European Journal of Educational Sciences , 3 (1). http://ejes.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/1.pdf
