CHAPTER 15
Gender Development
LAURIE WIGHAM, Birch Lake Lagoon (watercolour, 2015)
Sex and Gender
Theoretical Approaches to Gender Development
Milestones in Gender Development
Patterns of Gender Development
THEMES
NATURE AND NURTURE
THE ACTIVE CHILD
, THE SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
Within any group of children, individual interests, personalities, and
abilities will vary. Consider four hypothetical North American 12-
year-olds: Casey likes playing on the school soccer team and gets
bored when sitting for too long; Taylor likes to watch science fiction
programs and belongs to the school computer club; Kim likes dance
classes and puts a lot of thought into what to wear each day; Alex is a
cheerleader at school and babysits for extra money. You might expect
that Casey and Taylor are boys and that Kim and Alex are girls. This
thinking would be consistent with commonly held expectations for
girls and boys in North America. In some instances, these
expectations might reflect general trends amongst many boys and
many girls. However, as we will explore in this chapter, empirical
research challenges many widely held expectations about gender. For
example, Casey or Taylor might well be girls — as many girls like
sports and physical activity, as well as science fiction and computers.
At the same time, Kim or Alex could be boys — as some boys enjoy
dancing and dressing up, as well as belong to cheerleading squads
and babysit.
, Although this boy and girl are siblings growing up in the same household, some
differences in their behaviour, attitudes, and interests are apparent. In this chapter,
we compare girls’ and boys’ development and consider different theoretical
perspectives on the development of gender differences.
The notion that girls and boys are fundamentally different in their
dispositions and behaviour remains popular. The phrase “the
opposite sexes” is commonly used to refer to girls and boys (and
women and men). As discussed in the chapter, only a few cognitive
abilities and social behaviours actually show consistent gender
differences, and most of those average differences tend to be fairly
small (see Table 15.1). Even when researchers find an average gender
difference in a behaviour, there is substantial overlap between the
, genders when individuals are considered.
For instance, take the temperamental trait of activity level (see
Chapter 10). On average, boys exhibit higher activity levels than girls.
However, many boys are lower in activity level than the average girl,
and many girls are higher in activity level than the average boy. Thus,
to understand gender development, it is important to keep in mind
three points. First, girls and boys generally are not opposites;
similarities are more common than differences (Hyde, 2005). Second,
not all girls are alike, and not all boys are alike. There is considerable
variability within each gender in abilities and behaviour. Finally, as
we will explain, gender is more than simply the dichotomy of being
raised as a girl or a boy (Hyde et al., 2019). At birth, children are
typically labelled by doctors and parents as female or male based on
their external genitalia. However, some children do not identify with
the gender assigned to them at birth, or they may consider their
gender identity as fluid (see Box 15.1).
Why do many children have different gender-related preferences?
Developmental psychologists generally acknowledge the combined
influences of physiological, psychological, and cultural processes on
gender development (Leaper, 2015a), but they differ amongst
themselves in how much they stress particular factors in their
explanations for observed gender differences. Some researchers
argue that certain differences in females’ and males’ behaviour
reflect underlying physiological differences that emerged over the
course of human evolution (Bjorklund & Pellegrini, 2002; Geary,
Gender Development
LAURIE WIGHAM, Birch Lake Lagoon (watercolour, 2015)
Sex and Gender
Theoretical Approaches to Gender Development
Milestones in Gender Development
Patterns of Gender Development
THEMES
NATURE AND NURTURE
THE ACTIVE CHILD
, THE SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
Within any group of children, individual interests, personalities, and
abilities will vary. Consider four hypothetical North American 12-
year-olds: Casey likes playing on the school soccer team and gets
bored when sitting for too long; Taylor likes to watch science fiction
programs and belongs to the school computer club; Kim likes dance
classes and puts a lot of thought into what to wear each day; Alex is a
cheerleader at school and babysits for extra money. You might expect
that Casey and Taylor are boys and that Kim and Alex are girls. This
thinking would be consistent with commonly held expectations for
girls and boys in North America. In some instances, these
expectations might reflect general trends amongst many boys and
many girls. However, as we will explore in this chapter, empirical
research challenges many widely held expectations about gender. For
example, Casey or Taylor might well be girls — as many girls like
sports and physical activity, as well as science fiction and computers.
At the same time, Kim or Alex could be boys — as some boys enjoy
dancing and dressing up, as well as belong to cheerleading squads
and babysit.
, Although this boy and girl are siblings growing up in the same household, some
differences in their behaviour, attitudes, and interests are apparent. In this chapter,
we compare girls’ and boys’ development and consider different theoretical
perspectives on the development of gender differences.
The notion that girls and boys are fundamentally different in their
dispositions and behaviour remains popular. The phrase “the
opposite sexes” is commonly used to refer to girls and boys (and
women and men). As discussed in the chapter, only a few cognitive
abilities and social behaviours actually show consistent gender
differences, and most of those average differences tend to be fairly
small (see Table 15.1). Even when researchers find an average gender
difference in a behaviour, there is substantial overlap between the
, genders when individuals are considered.
For instance, take the temperamental trait of activity level (see
Chapter 10). On average, boys exhibit higher activity levels than girls.
However, many boys are lower in activity level than the average girl,
and many girls are higher in activity level than the average boy. Thus,
to understand gender development, it is important to keep in mind
three points. First, girls and boys generally are not opposites;
similarities are more common than differences (Hyde, 2005). Second,
not all girls are alike, and not all boys are alike. There is considerable
variability within each gender in abilities and behaviour. Finally, as
we will explain, gender is more than simply the dichotomy of being
raised as a girl or a boy (Hyde et al., 2019). At birth, children are
typically labelled by doctors and parents as female or male based on
their external genitalia. However, some children do not identify with
the gender assigned to them at birth, or they may consider their
gender identity as fluid (see Box 15.1).
Why do many children have different gender-related preferences?
Developmental psychologists generally acknowledge the combined
influences of physiological, psychological, and cultural processes on
gender development (Leaper, 2015a), but they differ amongst
themselves in how much they stress particular factors in their
explanations for observed gender differences. Some researchers
argue that certain differences in females’ and males’ behaviour
reflect underlying physiological differences that emerged over the
course of human evolution (Bjorklund & Pellegrini, 2002; Geary,
