Evaluation of awareness levels of five year old children on social gender equality

Abstract

The researches on the understanding of social gender stereotypes among children has so far been mainly focused on professions, game, toys and colors, which leaves out a wide range of fields of focus that could be studied. In this context, this research aims to examine whether 5-year-olds have social gender stereotypes in terms of professions, hobbies, games, toys, colors, emotions and tasks/chores and explore in which dimensions these stereotypes are more frequently observed. The participant group of this research consists of 91 children who attend an independent kindergarten in Izmir province. We choose to conduct our study in line with descriptive survey method; and for data collection, we utilize “Gender Stereotype Measurement Tool” designed by Şıvgın and “Gender Stereotype Child Interview Form” which was created by researched working in the field. The result indicated that children have stereotypical perceptions about gender regarding professions, roles, hobbies, emotions, attributions, colors, game and toys.