Gender equality entails equal rights for women and men, girls and boys, as well as the same visibility, empowerment, responsibility and participation, in all spheres of public and private life. It also implies equal access to and distribution of resources between women and men.1 Even if progress is visible and the legal status of women in Europe has undoubtedly improved during recent decades, effective equality between women and men is far from being a reality. Gender inequality affects both girls and boys although it is widely acknowledged that sexism and gender stereotypes tend to have a more negative impact on girls.
All children’s rights enshrined by the UN Convention on the Right of the Child (CRC) apply to every child without discrimination, to girls and boys alike, as well as to children who identify with other genders. Nevertheless, certain children’s rights issues might affect some children more than others, depending on their gender. Another human rights instrument, the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), also applies to girls, and the Committee assigned to oversee its implementation focuses on girls’ rights in its work.
Key concepts
Sex, gender, gender identity and sexual orientation are often confused, while all have a children’s rights dimension.
Sex is a biological fact; almost all human beings are born in one of two biologically differentiated types: a girl or a boy. The World Health Organisation (WHO) explains ‘sex’ as “the biological characteristics that define humans as female or male. While these sets of biological characteristics are not mutually exclusive, as there are individuals who possess both, they tend to differentiate humans as males and females”.2 Some people are born with atypical combinations of physical features (body characteristics) that usually distinguish boys from girls at the time of birth. These people may be referred to as ‘intersex’.
Gender, on the other hand, is a social construction. The “Istanbul Convention” refers to gender as “the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women and men”. The characteristics attributed to gender can therefore change.
Some sex characteristics
- Primary sex characteristics: genitals
- Secondary sex characteristics: breast development in the case of girls; greater muscle capacity in the case of boys
- Genetics: difference in chromosomes. Some gender stereotypes
-Girls and women are expected to dress in a feminine way (types of clothes, colours)
- Women and girls are expected to do more housework than men and boys
- Boys do not show feelings and never cry.
Gender identity refers to the gender to which people feel they belong, which may or may not be the same as the sex they were assigned at birth. It refers to each person’s deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender.
Transgender is an umbrella term often used to describe a wide range of identities and experiences. It usually refers to people who have a gender identity which is different from the gender assigned to them at birth, and to those people who wish to portray their gender identity in a different way from the gender assigned at birth.
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional and sexual attraction to males, females, both or neither. Sexual orientation is not linked to gender identity; for example, a transgender man may be heterosexual or gay in the same way that another man may be heterosexual or gay. An important part of one’s identity and individuality, gender roles are formed through socialisation. Today, not only the family, school and workplace influence such socialisation, but also the media, including new information technologies, music, films and social media. Both traditional and new socialising forces serve to preserve and transmit gender stereotypes, but at the same time, they can change or challenge them.
Gender stereotypes and discrimination
Gender stereotypes are generalised views or preconceived ideas, according to which individuals are categorised into particular gender groups, typically defined as “women” and “men” and are arbitrarily assigned characteristics and roles determined and limited by their sex. Stereotypes are descriptive in a sense that members of a certain group are perceived to have the same attributes regardless of individual differences, but also prescriptive as they set the parameters for what societies deem acceptable behaviour. Stereotyping becomes problematic when it is used as a vehicle to degrade and discriminate women and girls.
Many institutions of society reinforce traditional gender stereotypes. In the media, for example, women predominantly appear as objects of action, as victims and as caretakers, whereas men are usually portrayed as creative, strong, clever and full of initiative. While the media highlights a man’s power and achievement, a woman, even an accomplished woman, is usually first evaluated by her appearance. Children and young people’s self-presentation on social media, taking into account peer influence, also contributes to the endorsement of stereotyped gender roles. Evidence also shows that social media in particular is subject to abusive use, and that women and girls are often confronted with violent and sexualised threats online.
While gender stereotypes are principally formed during school years, gender inequalities are still a persistent feature of the education system in Council of Europe member states. Gender stereotyping continues to influence the behaviour and practices of school personnel. Schools tend to educate in ways that conform to gender stereotypes, and the majority of school learning environments do not encourage pupils to choose subjects in ways that are gender neutral. Students who do not conform to stereotypical expectations can experience criticism, ostracism and even violence. The education system is in a privileged position to reverse the situation, to change the mind-set of girls and boys, and to support girls and boys in fulfilling their true and full potential, by avoiding transmitting preconceived ideas about gender roles.
Traditional gender stereotypes can hurt boys as well as girls. Stereotypical male expectations of strength and competition often conflict with a boy’s daily experiences such as living in atypical family structures, male unemployment or women’s growing presence in the public sphere. Boys who do not fit the typical male stereotypes can suffer from bullying, exclusion and discrimination.
Girls might face discrimination in several fields of life: access to education and health care, participation, the right to play and recreation. Girls belonging to a minority, girls with disabilities, girls with migrant background, and girls living in rural areas or in disadvantaged situations are even more vulnerable
because they can be subjected simultaneously to one or several other types of discrimination.
To what extent does your community conform to traditional gender stereotypes?
How do these stereotypes affect children’s lives?
To what extent does your community conform to traditional gender stereotypes?