Title: Gender: early socialization: Parents' socialization | Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development
Headings: Gender: early socialization
Gender: early socialization
Parents’ Socialization of Gender in Children
Introduction
Problems
Key Research Questions
Research Results
Parents’ gender-stereotypical expectations.
Parents’ gender-role modeling.
Parents’ differential treatment of daughters and sons.
Research Gaps
Conclusions
Implications for Parents, Service Providers, and Policy Makers
References

Content: There is now more variation among parents with some holding traditional expectations and some expressing egalitarian expectations for their daughters and sons. 4,5 Also, some parents may support egalitarian views about some domains (e.g., occupations) but remain more traditional about other domains (e.g., family roles). Finally, parents (especially fathers) tend to be more rigid in their expectations for sons than daughters. 6
Parents’ gender-role modeling. One of the dramatic social changes in much of the industrialized world in the last 50 years has been in the entrance of women into the labor force. In contemporary industrialized societies, most women with children work outside of the home. Men’s average involvement in childcare and housework has also increased, although domestic responsibilities continue to be handled mostly by women in most dual-career families. 6 Research finds that fathers’ childcare involvement is negatively related to children’s gender stereotyping. Through active involvement in childcare, fathers demonstrate that the adult male role may include nurturing as well as instrumental activities.7
The potential influence of parental gender-role modeling has also been implicated in studies of children raised by lesbian or gay parents. 8 Compared to children raised in two-parent heterosexual families, children raised by same-gender parents tend be less likely than to endorse certain gender stereotypes.