Gender Stereotypes

When parents are asked whether they treat their children differently, what do you expect the response to be? In fact, a staggering 88% of moms admit to treating their sons and daughters differently (Futterman). Do these results surprise you? While shocking at first, this data actually does coincide with our culture well. From nursery colors to sleepover “ground rules” to curfew times, boys and girls are treated differently their whole lives. Although many claim that parents treat their sons and daughters more or less equally, there is overwhelming evidence to suggest that parents do hold different views of and expectations for their children depending on gender.
A 2017 study led by Jennifer Mascaro looked into how fathers interact with their daughters and their sons differently. The researchers found that

fathers tend to use more “analytical” language when speaking with their daughters as compared to when speaking with their sons. This use of more orderly language suggests that fathers have more complex, intellectual conversations with their daughters than with their sons (Park). The study points out, however, that intelligence is valued in sons as well. The study argues that roughhousing, a common activity between fathers and their young sons, requires emotional intelligence for the child to know when not to be too rough (Park). One could argue, therefore, that intelligence is equally valued in boys or girls, more or less. A study of Google searches disproves this, however. It found that queries on intelligence regarding boys were far more common than those regarding girls, despite girls being 11% more likely to be in a school’s gifted program (Stephens-Davidowitz). It can be concluded, therefore, that intelligence is generally more emphasized in boys than girls.
But it doesn’t stop there. The same study also found that parents seemed to have a disturbing focus on the weight and appearance of their daughters. The study reports that parents are twice as likely to ask whether their daughter is overweight than their son, despite boys being 9% more likely to be overweight than girls. Searches questioning whether a child is “beautiful” or “ugly” were far more common for girls than for boys (Stephens-Davidowitz). Not only that, but queries about their sons were more likely to use positive wording than those about their daughters. For example, there are larger biases toward asking whether a son is “happy” or “tall” than “depressed” or “short” (Stephens-Davidowitz). All of this adds up to mean that, despite our best efforts, America still wants “[its] boys smart and [its] girls skinny” (Stephens-Davidowitz).
Not surprisingly, this emphasis on looks can be crippling for young girls.

“As a society, we see men as stronger,” argues mother-of-four Stef Daniel. “We see men as more capable of dealing with problems or trouble when it arises. We give men kudos for being able to stay safe in the face of danger.” Girls, on the other hand, are something that must be protected. From an extremely young age, boys are “tumbled and bounced in the air”, while girls are “coddled and princess-ified” (Futterman). Of course, these views extend to adolescence as well. According to a study from the Washington Post, one of the most common fears held by a teenage girl’s parents is that their daughter will get pregnant at a young age. On this same list, however, the fear of a teenage son impregnating someone is only number 9 (Daniel). “The double standard,” argues Daniel, “is obvious.” Overall, girls are treated as pretty and delicate, whereas boys are seen as rugged and given more freedom. This is true despite the fact that teenage boys are far more reckless than teenage daughters in various ways (Daniel). Daniel sums it up well when she says that “We protect our daughters. We permit our

sons.”
The evidence is conclusive. Despite what we would like to believe, parents do treat their children differently depending on gender. The connotations of this are foggy at this point, but there will undoubtedly be more studies and information gained in the coming years.