Recent research from the USA shows that children as young as 6 can be influenced by, and believe in, gender stereotypes. The American researchers, from three universities, carried out a series of tests with 400 children, with equal numbers of girls and boys, to see whether gender stereotypes were evident in the children’s ideas about intelligence and ability.
At age 5, girls were just as likely as boys to associate ‘brilliance’ with their own gender. However, girls aged 6 and 7 were less likely to think this. Among 6-year-olds, boys chose males as being ‘really, really smart’ 65% of the time, whereas girls only selected females as being brilliant 48% of the time.
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