Gender-neutral Activities Research Articles

Effect of gender-neutral activities on preschool children’s gender stereotypes

ABSTRACT The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of gender-neutral activities on gender stereotypes among preschool children aged 48–60 months old. Also, the gender perceptions of parents were examined to reveal associations between parents’ gender perceptions and their children’s gender stereotypes. The study sample consisted of 53 children and 102 parents from Karaman, Türkiye. The experimental group was comprised of 27 children, while the control group consisted of 26 children. To collect data, the Preschool Occupation, Activity, and Trait Attitude Measure (POAT-AM) as well as a Gender Perception Scale were used. For the study design, a static group pre-test/post-test was employed. It was indicated in the study findings that preschool children did have gender stereotypes. Moreover, gender-neutral activities were effective in addressing gender stereotypes among young children.

Lithic usewear confirms the function of Wilamaya Patjxa projectile points

Approximately 9000 years ago at the Andean highland site of Wilamaya Patjxa, forager communities interred female and male individuals with projectile points, suggesting that large-mammal hunting may have been a gender neutral activity among that community. We report a lithic usewear analysis, which confirms that the ostensible projectile points were indeed used as projectile points. The data further reveal evidence of cutting and hide scraping consistent with animal processing activities. A new radiocarbon date shows that the female and male individuals were contemporaries, or nearly so, sometime between 9.0 and 8.7 cal. ka. These findings support a model of early subsistence practices in which both female and male individuals at Wilamaya Patjxa hunted large mammals.

Better Together? Analyzing Experiences from Male and Female Students and Teachers from Single-Sex and Coeducational Physical Education Classes.

Purpose: Since personal, environmental and behavioral factors influence students’ and teachers’ actions and experiences, the present study aimed to assess gender-related experiences of students and teachers from single-sex and coeducational physical education (PE) settings. Method: In total, 64 students (mean age: 13.8 ± 0.5 years) and 12 PE teachers from single-sex and coeducational PE settings from higher education schools (6th to 13th grade) in Germany and Austria were interviewed. Interviews were analyzed using a thematic content approach. Results: Students from coeducational PE settings described more gender-unrelated behavior and a higher variety of activities including various non-gender conforming activities. Male students from single-sex PE settings reported performing only gender conform and some gender-neutral activities. Teachers from coeducational settings stated that they purposefully formed mixed-gender groups to foster social processes. A lack of time and lack of knowledge were named by PE teachers as reasons for not addressing gender issues in PE by teachers. Conclusion: Performed activities and teachers’ behavior differed between PE settings, eventually influencing reported differences in terms of behavior and gender perception by students. Further studies should evaluate the influence of specific physical activity interventions on gender perceptions and students’ behavior in order to give practical recommendations for PE classes.

LAWNS AND LEMONADE: EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GENDERED CHILDPRENEUR ACTIVITIES, ADULT ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTIONS AND INDUSTRY PREFERENCE

Female entrepreneurs have moved into all industry sectors in recent years; yet most start businesses in only a few of these sectors, such as education and healthcare. We argue this is, at least in part, because gender role stereotypes permeate self-concepts and behaviors very early in life. Therefore, when children engage in entrepreneurial activities (which we term ‘childpreneurship’), they choose activities that match their gender role (much like adults), thereby reinforcing gender roles that later influence their adult entrepreneurial and occupational choices. We examine the mediating force of gendered childpreneur activities on the relationship between gender and adult entrepreneurial industry preference. We also examine the moderating effect of the quantity of childpreneur activities on the relationship between gender and entrepreneurial intention. A cross-sectional survey study of over 900 U.S. college students and working adults reveals that men and women report a stronger preference to start a business in gender-congruent industries. For men, engagement in male-typed childpreneur activities partially mediates this relationship. In general, the number of childpreneur activities is positively related to adult entrepreneurial intentions. More specifically, gender-neutral childpreneur activities are positively associated with women’s adult entrepreneurial intentions. Our study expands knowledge of distal factors influencing entrepreneurial intention and industry preference.

Determinants of livelihood choices and artisanal entrepreneurship in Nigeria

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide fresh insights into rural artisanal activities in a developing world context. It highlights key determinants of the decision to engage in an artisanal business and the challenges that impact upon the growth of these activities. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a mix-method research approach to explore a rural setting where most respondents (81 per cent) combine farm and non-farm livelihood activities. Quantitatively, a multi-nominal regression is used to examine the determinants of diversified artisanal livelihoods. It modelled the differences between farming livelihoods that have not diversified, compared to those also involved in the artisanal activity or wage employment and the intensity of participation. Findings The findings show that nearly half of artisanal businesses (45.4 per cent) comprise only the owners and no employee, while 54.6 per cent employ one to three workers. Also, some artisanal ventures were more gender-specific than the gender-neutral activities. Other observations were in age (most artisans were under the age of 46 years) and vocational training (most were self-trained followed by a third receiving training only in specific areas such as technical works, building and construction and general trading apprenticeships). Research limitations/implications The study is based on a relatively small sample size of 306 business owners, which makes it difficult to generalise despite the persuasiveness of the observations made. Practical implications First, the use of econometric methods enabled the development of valid data sets (and various descriptive statistical and logit regression) to analyse determinants of the decision to engage in artisanal work, and the intensity of participation. Second, the ambiguity in categorising artisanal activities is unravelled. The study characterises the local artisanal sector and examines the intensity of participation. Without these, targeted support would remain elusive for practical and policy interventions. Originality/value Artisanal activities constitute a high proportion of small businesses in the study area – with more than half (54.2 per cent) of respondents being classified as artisans, yet it is an overlooked area of entrepreneurship. Highlighted here are both types of activities and challenges regarding better conceptualising the understanding of artisans and regarding this mostly unarticulated base of practice.

Portrayals of Caring Masculinities in Fiction Film: The Male Caregiver in Still Mine, Intouchables and Nebraska.

This article analyzes the male caregiving characters Driss in Intouchables (2011), Craig in Still Mine (2012) and David in Nebraska (2013) in terms of hegemonic masculinity and its variations (Connell 1990; Connell and Messerschmidt 2005). Caregiving is a complex social situation normally assumed within kinship relationships, and traditionally attributed to women. We briefly review feminist analysis of caregiving since the 1970s (Fine and Glendinning 2005), and use critical studies on men and masculinities to show that the uptaking of caring tasks by men would and is contributing to equality between women and men (Elliott 2015). We have looked at the portrayal of the male caregivers in these films, and if and how they challenge hegemonic masculinity in terms of positive experiences. Our findings show that despite the tension men experience between giving in to and challenging patriarchal privilege of a care-free life, strategies such as humour, complicity, outdoor action and a general concern for the dignity of the care-receiver can be identified as some of these features of (imagined) caring masculinities and open new spaces for defining care as a gender neutral activity.

Students' Gender Stereotypes about Running in Schools

ABSTRACTTwo hundred forty-six students (132 boys, 114 girls) were tracked from fifth to eighth grades, and changes in gender stereotypes about running as a male sport, running performance, interest in running, and intention for future running participation were assessed. Results revealed that neither sex held gender stereotypes about running as a male sport and students were less likely to hold such stereotypes as they progressed through school. Compared to girls, boys were more likely to perceive running to be more appropriate for boys. Girls with higher gender stereotyping mean scores reported lower interest in running and intentions for future running participation, while boys recording increases in running stereotyping were more likely to retain interest in running and future running participation. This study provides empirical documentation of running as a gender-neutral activity over time in a physical education/athletic setting. From the expectancy-value lens, including gender-neutral activities such as running may encourage interest and participation levels among boys and girls alike.

Preschool Teachers’ Facilitation of Gender-Typed and Gender- Neutral Activities during Free Play

Understanding how preschool teachers facilitate children’s engagement in gender-typed and gender-neutral activities is important given that engagement in gender-typed activities is differentially linked to the development of skills connected to later academic achievement. Thus, facilitation of children’s engagement in gender-typed activities may contribute to emergence of gender differences in later educational outcomes. The current study used a teacher-focal observational coding system to investigate research questions about the frequency with which teachers facilitated feminine, masculine, and gender-neutral activities with same- and mixed-gender groups during free-play. Participants were 37 female teachers of Head Start classrooms in the U.S. Southwest (M years teaching preschool = 10.57, SD = 6.85, range = 2–27; 75.6 % completed at least a bachelor’s degree). Results revealed that feminine activities were facilitated less often than were masculine and gender- neutral activities during free play. Results also revealed variability in teachers’ facilitation of feminine, masculine, and gender-neutral activities, depending on the gender composition of the students with whom teachers were interacting (i.e., boys-only, girls-only, and mixed-gender). Implications for educational, developmental, and gender research are discussed.

Gender, Innovative Capacity, and the Process of Innovation: Case of Poland

IntroductionInnovation is increasingly becoming a way for enhancing economic development, and becoming a key to a prosperous future. There is a plethora of questions concerning efficiency, effectiveness, and also limitations identified in context of growing importance of such issues as: cooperation between business and science, interdisciplinary research, commercialization of outcomes of process of innovation, and a growing scale of public intervention directed to stimulation of innovative attitudes and activities. These include barriers and limitations rising from gender stereotypes and prejudices, often based on a belief 10.14254/2071-789X.2016/9-1/17 that masculinity and femininity play a determining role in shaping individuals, their behaviour, attitudes and needs (Okon-Horodynska et al., 2015).It is rational to increase innovative capacity of nation by exploiting whole society - men as well as women. It can also be stated that innovation, as well as scientific research, is not gender-neutral activity. A research project called Innovative Gender as a New Source of Progress is an attempt to analyse broad and multidimensional relation between gender and process of innovation, with a special emphases on complexity and complementarity of women's and men's potential to achieve optimal effects in research and innovative activities. The complexity and complementarity of women's and men's potential consists of gender specific: behaviour, attitudes, roles and experiences. For this purpose, dedicated design of integrated genome of women and men participation in process of innovation was created.In first part of paper concept of gender is explored in context of innovation theory and research. The following part presents adopted research methodology. It is followed by presentation of results of pilot survey conducted among research personnel in Polish innovative enterprises. It needs to be stressed, however, that survey is only a part of a broader research project focused on gender as one of new sources of economic progress.1. Gender in process of innovation - literature reviewWhile discussing innovation it is worth turning to Schumpeter, who is considered one of forerunners of innovation theory. He emphasized that innovation is virtually in centre of all phenomena, difficulties and problems of economic life of capitalist community. The sense of innovation is the formation of a new production function (Schumpeter, 1939, p. 87). The entrepreneur is characterized by dynamism and innovativeness and thus creates new businesses, new products, introduces a new organization of production and new production technologies. The entrepreneur-innovator therefore decides on driving force for economic development and concept of innovation refers to broader creative human activity.In contemporary world innovation is increasingly seen as one of main ways to enhance economic growth, it is a key to a future prosperity, and it creates prosperous nations, and is considered crucial for development (Alsos et al., 2013; Hunt et al., 2013). Growth will be highest if innovative capacity of whole workforce is exploited. So failure to integrate women into science, research and development of innovation could be perceived as unacceptable waste of human resources (Abels, 2012, p. 188). As Abels (2012, p. 187) writes, scientific research, and innovations are not gender-neutral activities. The gender dimension is deeply embedded in way we do science and develop innovations, influencing entire process from laboratories to market. Yet focus of efforts so far were not concentrated on particular groups in terms of their involvement in process of innovation, such as women and men. In order to fill in this gap, gender dimension should be applied to consideration of innovation. …

Children's Production of Subject-Verb Agreement in Hebrew When Gender and Context are Ambiguous.

Third and 5th grade Hebrew-speaking children performed two sentence completion tasks, one requiring the assignment of male, female, or gender-ambiguous names and the inflection of verbs for male-stereotyped, female-stereotyped, and gender-neutral activities, and the other task, of inflecting verbs for male- and female-stereotyped activities performed by children with gender-ambiguous names. The question of concern was whether when faced with the need to inflect verbs to match the conceptual gender of the sentence subject, the gender-stereotyped nature of the activities in question and children's own gender would play a role in resolving the dilemma created by gender-ambiguous names and contexts. In both parts of the study, we found that (1) children's own gender played a role in determining the pattern of verb inflection, and (2) children used their semantic knowledge regarding the gender-stereotyped nature of activities to inflect verbs so as to create subject-verb agreement. Hence, subject-verb agreement in children draws on both their grammatical and semantic knowledge.

Doing or Undoing Gender? An Explorative Study of Gender, Activities, and Well-being among People with Mental Illness Attending Day Centers in Sweden

This study explores gender, activity, and well-being among people with mental illness attending day centers in Sweden. Based on survey data of 215 attendees, this study applies the concepts of doing gender and regulatory regimes to analyze the relationship between being involved in gendered activities and well-being. The results show that while both male and female participants are involved in gender-neutral activities, men are less likely to engage in women-dominated (WD) activities while women are more prone to engage in men-dominated (MD) activities. Moreover, women involved in MD activities show a positive correlation with well-being, while the same does not hold for men engaging in WD activities. The study concludes that both women and men are “undoing” gender but that women also tend to “re-do” gender, suggesting that gendered regulatory regimes are more permissive to diversified feminist subjectivities than masculine subjectivities.

Men’s netball or gender-neutral netball?

In this article I examine whether justice in New Zealand is better served through the provision of gender-inclusive or gender-segregated men’s netball competitions (where netball began as a late 19th century women’s version of basketball). While the New Zealand Men’s Netball Association (henceforth called the ‘men’s association’) was initially established in 1984 under an inclusive ethos rooted in Māori community-based and fa’afafine1-based competitions, by the end of that most overtly transgender and fa’afafine players were excluded so as to boost the association’s heterosexist credentials. This process culminated in 2004 when the men’s association was replaced by the New Zealand Men’s and Mixed Netball Association (henceforth called the ‘mixed association’). While in principle medically verified postoperative transgender women may now play in mixed-gender leagues, virtually none do. Furthermore, anyone who foregoes such treatment – including fa’afafine – must dress as a man in order to play. If it is the coercion that makes coercive gender segregation problematic then perhaps justice would be best served if men’s netball was a gender-neutral activity. This seems consistent with the gendered history of both netball and men’s netball in New Zealand.

Introducing the Feminist Management Discourse in Organizations

The article demonstrates management discourse without masculine subtexts. In two organizations in the Norwegian state administration management was talked about either as a truly gender neutral activity or as a “feminine” activity. Managers’ primary tasks were to motivate team members and help them develop their capacities, it was stated. Further, team management was described either by the use of metaphors from gardening or childcare. Management discourse without a masculine subtext still appears to be very uncommon in work organizations. Why the typical masculine gendering of management was swapped with a more neutral or even feminine gendering is discussed in the article. It is argued that the successful launching of a non-masculine discourse relied on feminist agents who very effectively created organizational structures supporting such a discourse.

Any One Parent Will Do: Negotiations of Fatherhood among South Korean "Wild Geese" Fathers in Singapore

This article explores the interplay between transnational migration and notions of fatherhood by examining South Korean "wild geese" (kirŏgi) fathers in Singapore, who, unlike typical wild geese fathers who remain in South Korea to support their wives and children abroad, are directly involved in their children's educational migration to Singapore as primary caregivers. Most particularly, I identify two primary strategies by which these exceptional fathers enact a new image of fatherhood:(1) redefining caregiving as a more situational and gender-neutral activity and (2) retaining their close associations with conventional masculine domains while differentiating their care work from their wives' micromanagement of the children. These two strategies point to a stalled revolution in which the fathers' changing roles have not sufficiently challenged the dominant gender ideology. At the level of practice, however, these migrant fathers exemplify another form of family flexibility, one in which the conventional gendered household arrangement can be modified and even trespassed upon. Yet at the same time, at the level of ideology, these fathers need to secure their masculinity, something that remains limited by the dominant gender ideology of father as breadwinner. Hence, this ethnography of Korean migrant fathers illustrates the ongoing processes by which these men negotiate and justify their unconventional gender roles and practices in an attempt to reconcile the gap between their changing fathering practices and the conventional gender ideology.

Clients or consumers, commonplace or pioneers? Navigating the contemporary class politics of family, parenting skills and education

An explicit linking of the minutiae of everyday parenting practices and the good of society as a whole has been a feature of government policy. The state has taken responsibility for instilling the right parenting skills to deal with what is said to be the societal fall-out of contemporary and family change. ‘Knowledge’ about parenting is seen as a resource that parents must access in order to fulfil their moral duty as good parents. In this policy portrait, caring for children is posed as a classless and gender-neutral activity. A key theme of this article is that parents from different social class groups are positioned and understand themselves in quite distinct ways in relation to parenting skills advice and expert intervention into their family and home lives. We take a ‘relational’ perspective to show how mothers and fathers from different social class groups see themselves, and are located by policy and practice, as clients or consumers, and as commonplace or pioneers, in relation to parenting support for themselves and the education system for their children. We identify the lived gendered and classed disparities of power, and associated moral worth, attached to particular parenting practices.

Mostly the mother: Concentration of adverse employment effects on mothers of children with autism

Creating comprehensive and effective social welfare and anti-poverty policy is an ever-elusive task. A key component of such policies and their related programs is the encouragement and protection of parents’ employment. However, such efforts become more complicated when families are faced with additional challenges such as difficulties, which may arise when parenting a child with a disability. Although both paid employment and parenting are widely understood as far from gender-neutral activities, how adverse employment effects become concentrated on mothers is less well understood. This article examines circumstances under which negative employment effects become concentrated on mothers of children with autism. The results of the analysis suggest focusing policy on addressing short term threats to the continued success of established careers and on workplace reentry could help counter factors which tend to result in having mothers’ careers disproportionately affected as a result of having a child with a disability.

The Impact of Gender-Fair versus Gender-Stereotyped Basal Readers on 1st-Grade Children's Gender Stereotypes: A Natural Experiment

Israeli 1st-grade children in two different schools in the same neighborhood who were using either a gender-stereotyped or a gender-fair basal reader were asked to judge for a series of female-stereotyped, male-stereotyped, and gender-neutral activities whether they were characteristic of females, of males, or of both. Children using the gender-fair basal reader indicated that more activities were appropriate for both males and females than did children using the gender-stereotyped reader. As well, those using the gender-fair basal reader judged stereotypically female activities as more appropriate for both males and females than did children using the gender-stereotyped reader. Type of basal reader did not impact judgments of the gender-appropriateness of either male-stereotyped or gender-neutral activities. There were no main effects or interactions with children's own sex or of mothers' work status. The importance of gender-fair portrayals in basal readers was discussed.

Good-bye, Mr. Chips: Male Teacher Shortages and Boys’ Reading Achievement

One hundred seventy-five third- and fourth-grade boys who were identified as struggling readers participated in a 10-week intervention to determine the effect of the reading teachers’ sex on boys’ reading performance, self-perceptions as readers, and view of reading as a masculine, feminine, or gender-neutral activity. Findings indicated no main effects on reading performance, yet main effects of teacher’s sex on two sub-scales of reader self-perception emerged. Evidence of interactions showed that boys responded differentially to the intervention—they responded better to female teachers. Further analysis revealed that the boys’ responses varied as much as a response to individual male teachers as to the teacher’s sex.

Alleviating gender role strain in adult men with traumatic brain injury: an evaluation of a set of guidelines for occupational therapy.

A set of guidelines to assist men with traumatic brain injury (TBI) to alleviate gender role strain was assessed to determine its effectiveness and acceptability to participants. Four adult male participants with TBI received the intervention (the set of guidelines) for 4 months. The intervention consisted of rebuilding self-identified gendered social roles and activities. Focused interviews and participant observation were used to determine whether gender role strain changed after intervention. The participants reported that the intervention enabled them to (a) enhance their gender role satisfaction through newly rebuilt roles and activities, (b) attain certain long-held personal goals, (c) feel more like members of society, (d) perceive a greater congruency between their internal self-images and external postinjury roles, (e) learn more about personal skills and values as men, (f) feel more comfortable using help-seeking behaviors, (g) feel a sense of shared experience and affinity, (h) feel more understood and accepted, and (i) contribute to others through community member roles. The set of guidelines for alleviating gender role strain was effective in assisting these participants to enhance their gender role satisfaction through rebuilding desired male-gendered social roles and activities. Dating, courtship, extended family member, community member, friend, and mentor-protege roles, lost as a result of TBI, were rebuilt through gender-neutral activities that facilitated a sense of volitional control, competency, and normalcy. Nonetheless, the men continued to lack desired rites of passage leading from male adolescence to adulthood.

Memory for Gender-Consistent and Gender-Inconsistent Event Sequences by Twenty-Five-Month-Old Children

Gender-schema theory predicts that, based on a rudimentary understanding of gender (e.g., self-labeling), children will invoke gender schemata in the processing of information. In older children, one indication of schematic processing is differential memory for schema-consistent versus schema-inconsistent material. Due to a lack of appropriate measures, evidence of very early use of gender schemata has been limited. In the present study, elicited imitation was used to assess 25-month-old girls' and boys' immediate and delayed recall of sequences depicting female-stereotyped, male-stereotyped, and gender-neutral activities. At immediate and delayed testing, girls showed equivalent levels of recall of all 3 sequence types. Boys showed superior recall of male- relative to female-stereotyped sequences; their recall of gender-neutral sequences was equivalent to that of male-stereotyped ones. Results indicate that, at least for boys, use of gender schemata is evident by 25 months of age. Possible explanations for the absence of a clear effect for girls are discussed.