Gender Differences and Similarities in Childhood
“Big boys do not cry” (Kommer D., 2006, p.249), so
what is expected of big boys? Since genders are divided males and females, discriminations
have been existing. Even though many employers or parents think that there are
no different unbalance treatment to men and females, men, in fact, are treated unfairly
not only in jobs but also at home. Fortunately, male are female children are treated
equally at schools.
It looks fair between men and women, but men and
women are treated not equally in some certain job positions. For example, in
many restaurants, employers purely hire hostess, females, because employers
want to use females to attract many men to come to the restaurant in order to
earn more money. In contract, men hostess are viewed by the employers that men
will probably scare customers because of their aggressive facial expression. Many
parents, furthermore, merely trust females to look after their babies because
women are viewed tenderer than men. Women are commonly viewed very patient to
treat moody babies and not easily become angry at babies. Men are commonly
viewed intolerant with babies, in contract. While babies are crying, men are
viewed do not care and let the babies cry until the babies lose voice. Indeed,
males have less jobs opportunities than women.
Another difference between boys and girls are punishments
from their parents during childhood. Many
adults have traditional perception of boys being physically and mentally
stronger than girls. As a result, boys suffer worse penalties from their
parents for refusing to conform to their given roles. If boys break free from
their given roles, they will be punished, such as locked in their rooms and not
given supper. Contradictory, girls are viewed as weak; thus, they cannot
tolerate painful punishments. In general, girls are pictured to be more
obedient, so if a girl does something wrong, she is expected to be treated with
a kinder attitude from their parents.
For instance, if a girl breaks her mother’s mirror, her mother may think
it is merely an accident and forgive her daughter. On the other hand, if the
son breaks the mirror, he might get punished for his disobedience even though it
is merely an accident. In short, genders
have already been judged differently in a kind of punishment.
Even though self-perspective and
chastisement are different between boys and girls, the way to study for boys
and girls is similar at school. Both gifted male and female children are
enthusiastic to answer questions when teachers ask. Also, they are active to
ask questions when they face with a problem from assignments. For instance,
when students of chemistry class have some problems on why hydrogen and oxygen
can be combined together, the students will ask their chemistry teacher to
explain it in depth until the students understand. Although the teacher may
need to take a long time to explain it, and some students may feel disturbed by
the students who ask questions during class time, the enthusiastic students will
still continue to ask for clear explanations because it is very important for
them to recognize every detail. In other words, boys are as well active as
girls in class to pursue answers when they have trouble in their majors. All in
all, both boys and girls are able to handle difficult problems if they are
willing to seek clarification.
In brief, even though males are
having difficulties finding some jobs and extra chastisement from parents,
there are still many admirable teachers pay high effort to teach both male and
female students.