Gender socialization

The brief discussion on gender socialization has not included discussion on the nature versus nurture question, that is, to what extent gender differences are biological. Nor has it included discussion on whether and to what extent the way that Canadians socialize their children has changed over time. There is literature that substantiates that some differences are biological. Friedman (1997, p. 17), for example, states that studies of babies who are two to four days old show that girls spend almost twice as long maintaining eye contact with adults, compared to boys, demonstrating a tendency for girls to be more interested in people, and boys to be more interested in things. We were not able, however, to identify any studies that looked at changes in gender socialization over time. The literature is effectively silent on the question of whether Canadian parents, in the year 2005, are still raising their daughters to believe that their mission in life is to nurture and support others or, as Gilligan (1982, p. 11) says, to develop “the empathy and sensitivity necessary for taking the role of ‘the particular other.’”