International Journal of Gender & Women's Studies

Parents’ Gender Stereotypical Biases towards their Children May Be Negatively Affecting Their Son’s Involvement as a Father with His Children
Virginia Amato

Abstract
There is a distinct difference in parenthood roles between mothers and fathers where mothers perform most ―expressive‖ functions, and fathers perform most ―instrumental‖ functions often leaving fathers on the sidelines of parenthood (Bernard, 1975). Many factors ―ranging from outright discrimination to the process associated with gender role socialization‖ contribute to these gender role patterns (Eccles, 1994, p. 585). Parents, through reinforcement, encourage daughters to ―place more value on putting family needs before work‖ (Eccles, & Wang, 2016, p. 102). However, sons are encouraged to ―place more value on jobs that allow them to make a lot of money‖ (Eccles, & Wang, 2016, p.102; Jozefowicz, Barber, & Eccles, 1993). Father‘s attitudes ―about their children and their roles as parents may be important in determining the father's involvement with their children‖ (Cox, Owen, Henderson, & Margand, 1992, p. 1022). A father‘s involvement may be influenced by their experiences and perceptions of self-efficacy originating in childhood (Eccles, 2014). Many fathers ―express a desire to parent differently from their own fathers, whom they perceived as having been distant or disengaged from their families (Goodman, 2005, p. 193).It can be contributed to the parent‘s gender stereotypical biases towards their children.

Full Text: PDF      DOI: 10.15640/ijgws.v6n1a6