Gender Segregation in Child Care: What is it and What Can We do about it?

Abstract

Child care workers are committed to delivering a quality service to the children with whom they are working. As part of this commitment to quality, child care workers acknowledge the need to deliver an anti-bias curriculum. Gender is one of the areas incorporated in this anti-bias approach. However, we are only just beginning to understand how gender segregation operates in young children who attend child care. This paper examines some of the research about the development of gender segregated behaviours in young children and makes suggestions as to appropriate strategies for addressing these behaviours in the child care environment.