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Summary of UNGEI eDiscussion on Early Gender Socialization by Nurper Ulkuer
Introduction
The theme for the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2007 is Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). Therefore, UNGEI, the Education for All (EFA) flagship on gender, launched its first eDiscussion on how girls’ education can be promoted through ECCE, with Early Gender Socialization selected as the first theme for discussion. The reason for this choice was the generally accepted notion that early gender socialization is one of the issues in early childhood that affects girls in particular, and is the foundation for gender stereotypes that continue throughout the lifecycle. The rich discussion that ensued shed light on the issue of gender socialization and provided solutions on using the early gender socialization process as an opportunity to ensure gender equality and equity in education and beyond.
This summary highlights the major points from the discussion, which can be fed into the November 2006 EFA High-Level Group Meeting debate in Cairo through the UNGEI meetings. The consolidated inputs to the discussion can be found on the UNGEI website as follows: .
What is Early Gender Socialization and how early does it start?
There is general agreement on what is meant by gender socialization: that the process starts at birth and involves learning cultural roles according to one’s sex. From the start, boys and girls are treated differently by people in their own environment (for example, parents, siblings and caregivers), and thus learn the difference between boys and girls, women and men. Differing parental and societal expectations of boys and girls, and giving children gender-specific toys or gender-based assignments seem to define a process that can be termed as ’gender socialization’. Several examples have been provided from different parts of the world confirming that gender socialization is intertwined with the ethnic and religious values of
Introduction
The theme for the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2007 is Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). Therefore, UNGEI, the Education for All (EFA) flagship on gender, launched its first eDiscussion on how girls’ education can be promoted through ECCE, with Early Gender Socialization selected as the first theme for discussion. The reason for this choice was the generally accepted notion that early gender socialization is one of the issues in early childhood that affects girls in particular, and is the foundation for gender stereotypes that continue throughout the lifecycle. The rich discussion that ensued shed light on the issue of gender socialization and provided solutions on using the early gender socialization process as an opportunity to ensure gender equality and equity in education and beyond.
This summary highlights the major points from the discussion, which can be fed into the November 2006 EFA High-Level Group Meeting debate in Cairo through the UNGEI meetings. The consolidated inputs to the discussion can be found on the UNGEI website as follows: .
What is Early Gender Socialization and how early does it start?
There is general agreement on what is meant by gender socialization: that the process starts at birth and involves learning cultural roles according to one’s sex. From the start, boys and girls are treated differently by people in their own environment (for example, parents, siblings and caregivers), and thus learn the difference between boys and girls, women and men. Differing parental and societal expectations of boys and girls, and giving children gender-specific toys or gender-based assignments seem to define a process that can be termed as ’gender socialization’. Several examples have been provided from different parts of the world confirming that gender socialization is intertwined with the ethnic and religious values of