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The gender stereotype is alive and well

Gender and Stereotypes

I appear to be quite fascinated by gender differences and stereotypes. Why? Well, it is a topic I find myself repeating. The first time I blogged about gender was way back in 2009 when I was trying to figure out how come boys become boys. Then I pointed out the differences between my husband's reading shelf and mine in 2012 and most recently when I talked about the boys' and girls' soccer team names in 2013.


More Gender Stereotypes

Well, I recently visited my son's class to help with a writing assignment - the assignment was to write a "how-to" report: procedural writing.

It is always enjoyable to see how they think, and the things that are top-of-mind for them. Here are some of the topics the kids chose -


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Topic Gender
How to braid your hair Girl
How to do the highschool cheer Girl
How to do the crow (a yoga) pose Girl
How to lace your ice-skates Girl
How to tie your laces Girl, but for some reason I expected a boy
How to install Minecraft Boy
How to be a (soccer) goalie Boy
How to ride a bicycle Boy
How to find the square root of 100 Boy
How to read a chapter book Boy, girl




While I'd like to think that I do not act on stereotypes, and there were also a number of topics that could have been done by either a boy or a girl (e.g. how to whistle, wash your hands, etc.), it was amusing to see the stereotypes borne out.


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