When Boys Won't Be Boys: Discussing Gender with Young Children

Source: Harvard Educational Review. Vol. 80, Iss. 3; pg. 379-391. (Fall 2010).

In this essay, the authors are a mother and a daughter who reflect on gender roles and how they are enacted in the classroom.

When Timothy, a student in Jane's kindergarten class, refuses to count himself as one of the boys during a math lesson, Jane begins a conversation about social constructions of gender with her daughter, Hannah.

Writing in separate voices, the authors raise critical questions about the rigidity of gender roles and the importance of discussing gender with young children.