Childhood socialization into gender roles can definitely be viewed as a negative. Many studies have been conducted and opinions have been voiced about the bad parts that come with separating children into their specific gender roles. A 2009 Yahoo! Voices article speaks to all of the downsides of gender socialization, mapping out the path from birth until parenthood and how being socialized into gender affects the typical boy and the typical girl. The language the author uses is extremely harsh, as she says that a "baby girl generally brought home to a pink room" and "a boy... given a blue room" is "worse" than putting pink and blue hats on babies at the hospital. It then goes on to say how girls throughout their lives are expected to be submissive and family-oriented while boys are encouraged to explore and focus on their careers. Of course, since the author is a woman, the article is biased to show how boys benefit from gender socialization and women are at a disadvantage.
To me, this article seemed very outdated and wrong, but after further consideration, I realized that maybe it wasn't so far off-base for perhaps other socioeconomic settings. In the area where we live, northern New Jersey, and in the school we come from, all-girls IHA, we are encouraged as women to pursue careers and break through gender stereotypes. In many other parts of the country, though, there are places where women are still expected to be below men on the social ladder, and this starts with the pink hats, dolls, and being called "sweetie" until the age of 8, just as the article describes. Gender socialization definitely has its negatives for females.
I thought this was really interesting. While I do not quite agree with the author, I can see her point. However, while a glass ceiling still exists and it is still a shock to see women doing "boy" jobs, I believe it has gotten better and that we are on the road to true equality. At least, I have never felt pushed into doing a "girl" job (Of course, the job I want is kind of gender neutral) and some of the best teachers I've had have been guys. I think that she perhaps over exaggerated the severity of the issue, though I may think that because of where I live and what my family is like. They don't make any kind of deal about male vs. female anything really (although the primary caregiver is my mother. If he could though my dad would be with us). Case in point: my aunt is an engineer... and no one even thinks anything of it. So from the perspective of my experiences, I would say that, while the gender divide exists, it is nowhere near as extreme as the author makes it out to be.
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