Paper Example. The Process of Gender Socialization

According to John and Unicef, (2017), gender socialization is the process in which individuals of a particular society or social setting are trained to understand and adhere to the roles and duties, attitudes, the expected norms, and behaviors associated with a particular sex. It is a fundamental exercise because it determines the relationships in a given society. For instance, as growth takes place among children, they tend to develop a sense of their gender. This has the effect of making them concentrate more on the information relating to their sex phenotypes (John & Unicef, 2017). In the long run, such information influences their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors on their gender and the opposite gender.

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When Gender Socialization Takes Place and the Types of Messages Involved

The process of socialization may at times begin even before the birth of a child. This is so because people may usually inquire from an expectant mother on the sex of the unborn (Basu & Lundgren, 2017). From this, the preparation of gender socialization takes off and you may find depending on different cultures, the painting of the room on different colors depending on the sex of the child (Basu & Lundgren, 2017). At birth, the children are treated differently according to their sex and are given toys on the same basis. At around age 3, children are taught on the physical distinctions and by 5, they are well informed on their gender identities (Strapko & Smith, 2016). By age 12, children begin identifying with the gender stereotypes upon their culture, and the different roles of boys and girls, men and women.

The Process of Racial Socialization and Messages Involved

According to Huguley and Guo (2019), this refers to the process by which parents or older people in society educate their children in both implied and direct information with regards to race. It mostly takes place when children grow into youths. At his point, they are educated on messages that lay significance on pride for being what one is, whether black or white (Huguley & Guo, 2019). Additionally, they are taught against racial inequalities, the value of hard work in overpowering racism, and mistrust on racial categories among others.

References

Basu, S., Zuo, X., Lou, C., Acharya, R., & Lundgren, R. (2017). Learning to be gendered: Gender socialization in early adolescence among urban poor in Delhi, India, and Shanghai, China. Journal of Adolescent Health, 61(4), S24-S29.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X17301532Huguley, J. P., Wang, M. T., Vasquez, A. C., & Guo, J. (2019). Parental ethnic-racial socialization practices and the construction of children of color’s ethnic-racial identity: A research synthesis and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 145(5), 437.

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-15652-001John, N. A., Stoebenau, K., Ritter, S., Edmeades, J., Balvin, N., & Unicef. (2017). Gender socialization during adolescence in low-and middle-income countries: Conceptualization, influences, and outcomes.

http://repositorio.minedu.gob.pe/handle/MINEDU/5318Strapko, N., Hempel, L., MacIlroy, K., & Smith, K. (2016). Gender differences in environmental concern: Reevaluating gender socialization. Society & Natural Resources, 29(9), 1015-1031.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08941920.2016.1138563?casa_token=2HiGhvtfcFUAAAAA%3Aukx8UE-ns8hvmIcLAElHeY96aEpQrnzGuKjouNXmQl06basK29G8OSGeIYhlHJyHJNtQYp_3YobBqZ2xqA