Date of Graduation
1998
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MA
Department
Education
Committee Chair
Mary Haas
Committee Member
Joy Saab
Committee Member
Roy Moxley
Abstract
This study aimed to determine if reading children books about people in nontraditional occupations would decrease occupational sex role stereotyping. The study also attempted to identify correlations between students’ occupational sex role stereotyping and the following demographic variables: age, gender, parents’ socioeconomic status, mother’s employment, and traditionality of mother’s employment. One hundred twelve kindergartners and first graders from two rural schools in West Virginia were administered a questionnaire, as a pretest, to determine the degree of which they stereotype 14 occupations according to sex. Of the 14 occupations, 5 were traditionally female sex-typed, 7 were traditionally male sex-typed, and 2 were neutral (not sex-typed). For each occupation, the subjects were asked “Who can do the job? women only, men only, or both”. Following the pretest, a 10 day treatment phase was conducted with half of the classes involved in the study. The other half served as the control group. The treatment consisted of the classroom teacher reading children’s literature portraying people in nontraditional occupations and showing the illustrations 15 minutes a day for 10 successive school days. The students in the control group were read books which did not discuss occupations. After two weeks of treatment, all of the students were given a post-test, which was identical to the pretest. The results indicated that reading literature portraying people in nontraditional occupations and showing the illustrations significantly decreased occupational sex role stereotyping in kindergartners and first graders. The following demographic variables were also found to have an effect on the subjects’ occupational sex role stereotyping: age, and sex X mother’s employment interaction. Occupational sex role stereotyping was significantly greater in first graders than in kindergartners, and in boys whose mothers didn’t work than in boys with employed mothers.
Recommended Citation
Mayer, Robin Ann, "The impact of egalitarian children's literature on occupational sex role stereotyping in kindergartners and first graders." (1998). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 10379.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/10379