The effects of television on children's stereotyping of women's work roles

Sixty-seven elementary school students, ages 5 through 10 years, from three ethnic groups were systematically exposed, over a 1-month period, to specially produced television commercials. One treatment group viewed prevideotaped cartoons interspersed with commercials of women in “traditional” roles, while a second group viewed the same cartoons but with commercials which portrayed women in traditionally male or “reversed” roles. Children were measured on pre-and post-tests on (1) their occupational knowledge, (2) the extent to which they stereotyped occupations, and (3) their own preferences for traditionally male and female jobs. Results indicate that children do learn about occupations from television content, that they also learn to stereotype or nonstereotype various occupations based on the sex of the TV model, and, finally, that girls will change their preferences for various occupations based on the particular roles they view women portrayed in.