Essay on Pedagogy: Breaking Gender Stereotypes through Children's Literature

Running head: ESSAY ON PEDAGOGY
ESSAY ON PEDAGOGY
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note

1ESSAY ON PEDAGOGY
Western societies have certain gender stereotypes which are so prevalent among the masses that
it has even crept in the mind of the children as well (Oakley, 2016). According to certain
researches, the pre-school and kindergarten going children often fall prey to preconceived
gendered notions and stereotypes which often escalate to their later life proving to form a huge
impact in their mind in their later life. A child’s creativity, personal development and cognitive
skills is often constricted by the societal idea of gender (Leaper & Brown, 2014). The respective
paper would throw light on the gender stereotype and would try to break the shackles of gender
conformation by encouraging gender diversity among the pre-school children. The respective
paper is a critical discourse or discussion about the early childhood learning outcomes which has
been brought by me with the help of a children’s literature, “Pink is for boys” by Rodd Pearlman
which celebrates gender neutrality, diversity and questions gender binary or stereotypes set by
the society through the eyes of children (Publishersweekly.com., 2018). The respective paper is
an essay that also covers certain basic and secondary Early Childhood learning principals under
Australian standards in order to analyze and evaluate my pedagogy skills effectively.
The book which I have taken in order to teach children moral and ethical lessons of
diversity in terms of gender is “Pink is for Boys” by Robb Pearlman with illustration by Eda
Kaban. It is a beautiful book for the kindergarten going children with illustrations which deals
intrinsically about the gender issues, stereotypes and gender diversities and all such aspects
which the children face from the beginning of their life (Publishersweekly.com., 2018). For
example, from the very beginning of the life of learning, understanding and cognitive
development, the children are told that pink color is girlish whereas blue is boyish. The gender
stereotypes are incorporated in the children inside their subconscious mind from the very
beginning that further shapes their cognition up to a certain extent. The book flaunts gender

2ESSAY ON PEDAGOGY
agnosticism where different characters of multiple shades and characteristics are incorporated
and boys and girls are encouraged to do what they like and not what they should. The book is
about freedom from all kinds of regressive gender divided psychological shackles which
compresses the creativity of the children. The book inspires children to do any kind of activity,
from dressing up to playing baseball, from playing with a doll to having frolic with racing cars,
irrespective of the gender of the child.The first and foremost lesson which the novel provides the
children is that it is absolutely alright and “normal” to be slightly different from what the society
expects them to be according to their gender.(Tayler, Cloney & Niklas, 2015). Since the birth of
a child, irrespective of his or her gender and other customary or primitive differences, the child is
subjected to a plethora of prejudices and notions that are popular in the society and are taught or
imbibed by the children from their caregivers, parents, environment or the society where the
child is getting nurtured. The child is often taught how to “behave” and act according to the
manners and the way the world and society runs, which often are established and regressive
ideals which hampers the flexibility and acceptance of diversity within the child. Picasso had
stated that children are the best artists, he might have uttered the respective statement as he
observed the children to be a section of the society which questions the rules and does not easily
succumb to the establishment, who is fiercely independent and overtly creative, imaginative and
always dreams of a fantastic world full of diversity which, even though scientists and
psychologists term to be a utopia, has streaks of artistic merits and fervor in them (Richardson,
2018). Therefore, as an early childhood educator, I believe that my job is to give wings of
diversity to the children and explain them that their gender or race is not their limit and that sky
is the limit for them. (Ortlipp, Arthur & Woodrow, 2011). I believe that it is the moral and the
most necessary duty of the early childhood educators to engage the children with a lot of creative

3ESSAY ON PEDAGOGY
and interactive activities in the class so that they start developing inquisitiveness and start
questioning the factors and aspects that are there in the society regarding issues such as gender
roles and diversity that might help them to nurture and develop their cognition. Therefore, the
book which I have chosen, “Pink is for Boys” is a book which depicts gender agnosticism where
different characters of multiple shades and characteristics are incorporated who try different
activities despite of their gendered boundaries, thereby, breaking the shackles of gender
disempowerment and generalization, thereby, helping the children explore their creativity and
capability in a broader horizon by celebrating the gender diversity among themselves and the
environment. Through the book, boys and girls are encouraged to do what they like and not what
they should. The book is about freedom from all kinds of regressive gender divided
psychological shackles which compresses the creativity of the children.
The most important part of the pedagogical practice that I have taken into consideration is highly
innovative and concept based. Children tend to learn about diversity not by theoretical learning
but by creative and highly conceptual learning. The concept based and innovative form of
pedagogy is the process by which students tend to understand the content of the subject with the
use of big and all pervasive ideas and approaches (Leggett & Ford, 2013). Such mental exercise
helps the students to understand the intrinsic as well as instrumental understandings of the
subject, broadening their perspectives, approaches and horizons regarding the respective
discipline for their holistic development. Conceptual understanding of diversity (which can
include gender, race or ethnicity) would help my students to discover the statics and dynamics of
the society beyond generalization. Often, the children fall prey to generalized thought processes
and therefore, they develop certain preconceived notions that might create harmful effect for
them in their near future. The most important part of concept based learning is that students get