Swings + Roundabouts Winter 2021

Well-meaning adults may tell children, ‘You can be anything you want to be’. However, how realistic is this modern-day mantra? The assumption behind this statement is that everyone has the freedom, ability, and opportunity to follow one’s dreams and aspirations. When grown-ups ask children, ‘what do you want to be when you’re grown up?’ they generally expect the usual replies: firefighter, nurse, or astronaut. In this case, too, the assumption is that children have an unfettered choice, and nothing holds back their imagination. They are free to imagine being magicians, prime ministers or electricians. Actually, this turns out to be wrong because societal influences and traditional expectations play a big role in shaping children’s aspirations. Child Development theorists such as Bronfenbrenner (1979) and Vygotsky (1978) tell us that surroundings, societal factors and structures, role models, and social learning are significant factors in children’s cognitive and social development. Children observe parents, educators or other role models and look for cues in their environment for a variety of purposes, including for informing their worldview. For example, a 2021 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) study shows that children tend to aspire to roles that are similar to those of parents or family members. This makes perfect sense, but what is surprising is that the study noted in particular that by the time children are five years old gender norms are evident in children’s aspirations. This means that children are highly observant of traditional expectations and stereotypes, much as adults may think that young children are free from bias. In fact, this study suggests that gendered ideas are already entrenched by the time children are five years old. The above-mentioned OECD research looked into five-year-olds’ cognitive and social development, collecting information from over 4,000 five-year olds in England and Estonia. This in-depth study and analysis also included contextual information from parents and educators. The study found that 1 in 4 of the most popular roles selected by girls are in traditionally female-dominated occupations. More than 1 in 2 of the top 30 roles specified by boys are in traditionally male-dominated fields. Girls want to be teachers, vets, doctors, hairdressers and dancers – scientists, pilots and builders rank lower on the list. Boys want to be police officers, athletes, doctors and firefighters. Overall, girls and boys have some similar aspirations. However, there are clear and stereotypical differences, e.g. boys are three times more likely to want to be an athlete than girls, and five-year-old girls aspire to careers that involve caring. The most popular profession selected by girls was ‘teacher’ – internationally, 68% of teachers are women (International Labour Organisation, 2020). The profession chosen most often by five-year- old boys was ‘police officer’. Protective services professions are 84% male (ILO, 2020). According to this OECD report, even the choice of imaginary characters appears to be stereotypical. The majority of characters of creatures that girls want to be are fairies, mermaids and unicorns, whereas boys most often cited superheroes such as Spiderman and Superman. (Would comparative New Zealand studies show the same stereotypes? According to anecdotal findings, boys and girls in Aotearoa have far less restrictive views about ‘Elsa from Frozen’ or mermaids…) Interestingly, whilst – in this European context - girls have no interest in being Spiderman nor do boys want to be mermaids, there are striking commonalities across career aspirations for both boys and girls. These commonalities are regardless of socio-economic backgrounds, i.e. teacher, doctor and veterinarian were the three top career options for girls, from both high and low socio-economic status (SES). For boys of both top and lowest SES the choices were identical, i.e. police officer, athlete, and fire fighter. Notwithstanding the stereotypical choices, which have the OECD concerned that this may impede career aspirations later in life, parents will probably be pleased to note that young children are so focused in their career aspirations to think about skilled professions. It will also most likely make absolute sense that children will look amongst their close family or role models for inspiration. As the research also shows, girls more than keep up with boys in their outlook. It seems that the gendered patterns in how children view their future work are particularly striking for boys and it may be worthwhile having discussions about expanding children’s horizons and ambitions so they can actually ‘be anything they want to be’. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? BY KATINA BEAUCHAMP June 2021 { 34 }