Hi, developing an awareness of gender identity doesn't apply solely to self it's about having an awareness of gender roles, potential discrimination, prejudice, stereotypes, the differences between the genders and equality.
This is a quote from
page 63 of Understanding Child Development - Linking theory to practice 2nd edition
Over the last quarter of the twentieth century, it was largely unacceptable to study male-female differences and certainly to allow that there could be a biological explanation for differences, at least as important as the power of socialisation. Even at the beginning of the twenty first century. Simon Baron-Cohen (2003) describes his extreme caution about presenting his ideas that adult male and female brains work differently: not better or worse, just in a different way. There is definitely room for caution, given some of the sweeping myths about s e x differences in brain development. Lise Elliot (2009) takes care to explain the ways in which small differences in early childhood appear to be accentuated by differential treatment of the sexes, until some significant some significant differences can be tracked by middle childhood and beyond.
Page 166 of the workbased EYE textbook details how recognising children's emerging view or their concept of gender is important in order to plan activities that are diverse.
Pages 330 - 331 explores development and how it's been observed that children
9-12 months can react differently to male and female faces,
18-24 months where toddlers are starting to become interested in gender-stereotyped toys. By
2 years it says children can recognise a photo of a same-sex child.
21/2 to 3 years children are identifying the differences by using clues such as hair length and style of dress.
3-4 year old children are beginning to link tasks and objects with gender of the person doing them. It states 'Many children still associate men with power tools'. At
5-6 Children have acquired the concept of gender stability. They know that gender is not dependent of type of clothes or haircut.
Page 136 explores how creating environments where children 'girls and boys' are respected and cared for equally in their early years is the first step towards breaking cycles of discrimination and disadvantage, promoting a child's sense of self-worth as it relates to their gender. The paragraph goes on to remind us how some children might of learnt narrow gender roles.
Links are to amazon.co.uk
Do you know what teaching you're expecting to receive for this?
Best wishes
Gender identity
& 
Linear Mode
