A Study of Childhood and Gender: Social Constructs and Development

This essay explores the intertwined concepts of childhood and gender, focusing on their social construction and impact on individual development. It examines childhood as a distinct phase shaped by societal norms, age, and laws, contrasting historical perspectives with modern views influenced by technology and globalization. The essay also delves into gender, highlighting differences in learning abilities and the influence of social constructs on gender roles. It discusses varying cultural perspectives on masculinity and femininity, emphasizing the role of social interaction in shaping gender identity. The analysis concludes by underscoring the dynamic nature of childhood and gender, influenced by cultural shifts, technological advancements, and evolving societal beliefs. Desklib offers more resources for students seeking solved assignments.

CHILDHOOD AND
GENDER

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Childhood and gender are basically the two interlinked aspects of the life stage of
individuals that have an equal impact on each other. Childhood where on one hand is the life
span from birth to adolescence while gender is the underlying characteristics which differentiate
masculinity as well as femininity. The main aim of this report is to understand the social
construct of both childhood and gender and to study their patterns in modern era.
This report gives a brief overview of key concept of childhood, social construct within
childhood, key concept of gender and social construct of gender.
MAIN BODY
Childhood
Childhood is basically the period of age which ranges from birth to the adolescence. In
short, it is predominately the age time for children where they go to school as well as at play for
becoming stronger together with family. It is the age in which children children learn about
social world and its aspects like crime, hates, love, attachment from society etc. According to
Jane Pilker, childhood is basically seen as the clear as well as distinct phase wherein children
occupies the different status in comparison to adults (Elkins and et.al.,2018). This is generally
concerned with numerous ways like laws which regulates what the children are not allowed and
allowed, required and prohibited to do. There are various laws within western societies about the
childhood like child laws, protection laws, mandatory education laws etc.
Social construction of the childhood as well as age
Age is generally the significant aspect which plays an essential role in teaching children
about the social world. It usually determines various aspects that at what age children can marry,
start job, join leisure activities etc. It has a vital and important bearing upon status as well as
identity and tells the different forms of life. In most of the cultures like western culture, Hausa,
Chisunga etc, it is usually puberty which marks beginning of the adulthood but the childhood is
generally marked by the particular characteristics as well as the thinking. It has been argued that
western views of the age are something that came with development of the industrial society.
Earlier, The family were generally considered as single unit of production that time the age of an
individual was not much crucial (Prout, 2016). For example- children tend to lead unprivileged
existence because they were required to join as well as help in various productive activity. It is
usually argued that children are psychologically as well as physically immature in comparison to

adults. The children are mostly dependent on that adults for numerous biological as well as
emotional needs. In comparison to adults, children are generally not much competent for leading
their own lives and thus cannot be later on held responsible for the various actions. The social
construct of the childhood mainly are different in different countries and also changes over time.
During middle ages, children does not used to have varying needs or demands than from adults.
But, as the children entered the wider society, they tend to differ from adults and started working
from the young age.
Today socaility
Now a days, children are generally considered as the mini adults and basically are treated
just like adults even while talking of the laws. The views of children and adults are inter-
mingling that have no distinctions and are generally not segregated. The social construction in
childhood has transformed in this modern British and thus there are usually high level of
separation and isolation between spheres of the adulthood as well as childhood. There are
basically the various places where children as well as trusted adults are allowed to go and hence
these children are generally sheltered from the adult life. In this modern era, relative to the adults
there has been the establishment of various laws across country which restricts children from
exposing to the labour work (Ristori and Steensma, 2016). The parental attitudes in today world
also varies. The are various reason which went into these changes from traditional era to modern
era and the difference between attitudes of children and adults like the education. Since the
emergence of globalization, the government has made elementary education compulsory and the
advent of this compulsory education has raised the age of the dependency of children on adults.
Besides this, there has been the contrasting views of children on various aspects from adults.
Along with this, the decreasing family size as well as low infant rates of mortality addresses that
now parents are more and more encouraged for making greater and stronger emotional
investment into the children for their mental and physical growth. This has led to the different
mentality level of children.
Technology
The emergence of technology has eventually changed the mindset and point of view of
children on various aspects. This advanced technology has transformed the lives of children to a
great extent. Even in the very young age, children has now become addictive to the different
video games as well as applications which is rewiring their brain (Halim and et.al.,2017). This is

posing a great threat on the minds if children and thus affecting their biochemical changes.
Besides this, the excessive use of social media has made them vulnerable to various health
diseases as well as misconceptions. The addicted games and different aggressive websites are
ruining their entire childhood and this has bought a great change within their behaviour.
Gender
Gender is basically the characteristics which differentiate between the masculinity as well
as femininity. Gender plays an important role in childhood and thus affects the mental
imagination of children. There is a huge difference in the learning abilities of male as well as
female which forms their distinguishing feature. While on one hand, male generally have
performance orientation and thus are motivated by desire on the other hand, female tend to get
motivated by mastery orientation and thus has different learning abilities. As males are more
active physically in comparison to females thus their biochemical composition are totally
different and are vulnerable to the physical aggression (Steedman, Urwin and Walkerdine, 2016).
It has been reported that males generally overestimate their abilities while females shows high
motivation as well as self-efficacy. The most important part of the body which plays an essential
role in learning and thus makes a difference between male learning as well as female learning is
the brain. According to the national health center, most of the area in brain of females includes
cerebral cortex which is mainly responsible fro memory, attention, language etc and thus they are
more dedicated to the verbal functions. In contrast to this, most of the part of cerebral cortex in
males are generally dedicated to mechanical as well as spatial learning. Therefore, males
generally learns better with the movement as well as pictures. According to Jane Pilker, the
sociology of gender are highly imperative and thus varies from country to country.
Social construction of the gender
Gender is also like other social entities are socially construed. Social constructionism
basically is the key theories which sociologists uses for putting gender into the historical as well
as cultural focus. The gender norms are generally learned from the birth through the childhood
socialization. It is usually expected that children learn what their parents and social institutions
teach them like the religious teachings, cultures, etc (Elkins and et.al.,2018).
In most of the western nations for example U.S., people generally think of the
masculinity as well as femininity in the dichotomous manner and hence views of men and
females are different and distinct (Chetty and et.al.,2016). Various different cultures however

step out of this assumption and keep their views on of males and females as less different. For
example- in the initial stages of life, there was different category of the people within Navajo
culture which was known by the name berdaches that were regarded as anatomically male but
still were defined as the third gender that falls between both males as well as female. Thus, the
views on masculinity as well as femininity are highly contrasting in different countries. The most
popular as well as contemporary approach in sociology in gender is generally influenced by the
symbolic Interactionist theory. This theory emphasizes on micro-level regular interactions which
challenges the varying gender. This theory addresses that gender is basically produced by
communication between the people and molds the view of people to great way. This theory
mainly highlights instability as well as fluidity of the gender and identifies that because this is
produced via interaction of people, this theory is fundamentally changeable.
In mid-twentieth century, it has been argued that the men generally portrayed
instrumental roles within society and women portrayed the expressive roles for the benefit and
sake of society. The gender division was being viewed as necessary and significant for operating
the modern society smoothly. For example- It was regraded as against the rule of society to send
women on job and render the the equal value just like males (Rae and et.al., 2019). This was the
functionalist approach but over the time, this approach became outdated and old and was
replaced by the views of modern theorist. In this modern era, the males and females are
encouraged to take their own choices of leading lives. Where on one side, males are considered
as the head of family on the other side, females are now encouraged to step their foot out from
home and explore the world in the way they want. Although, there are still some cultures and
religion where females are considered as inferior and thus are kept out from the family business.
The most known example of thus is the Islamic religion. It generally against the views of society
to send females on job in Islam and thus they are still following the traditional approaches.
CONCLUSION
It has been summarized that childhood is basically shaped by variety of determining
factors like culture, age and thus this affects the mental and physical growth of children. In this
modern era, children has become technology-oriented and thus their attitudes as well as beliefs
has been changed in comparison to the adulthood. On the other hand, the sociology of gender
also varies from country to country and thus is generally produced via interaction between
people.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Chetty, R and et.al.,2016. Childhood environment and gender gaps in adulthood. American
Economic Review.106(5). pp.282-88.
Elkins, I.J and et.al.,2018. Associations between childhood ADHD, gender, and adolescent
alcohol and marijuana involvement: A causally informative design. Drug and alcohol
dependence.184. pp.33-41.
Halim, M.L.D and et.al.,2017. Gender attitudes in early childhood: Behavioral consequences and
cognitive antecedents. Child development.88(3). pp.882-899.
Prout, A. ed., 2016. The body, childhood and society. Springer.
Rae, J.R and et.al., 2019. Predicting Early-Childhood Gender Transitions. Psychological
science.30(5). pp.669-681.
Ristori, J. and Steensma, T.D., 2016. Gender dysphoria in childhood. International Review of
Psychiatry.28(1). pp.13-20.
Steedman, C., Urwin, C. and Walkerdine, V., 2016. Routledge Revivals: Language, Gender and
Childhood (1985). Routledge.