The Gender Stereotypical Beliefs of Tanzanian Parents about their Children

Abstract

Gender inequality and its negative consequences tend to be higher in non-WEIRD countries, where patriarchal structures are dominant. Gender stereotyping can be seen as a profound basis of these structures and has a negative impact on the daily lives of girls and women. Gender stereotyping occurs from birth onward, and looking at the gender socialization and identity theory of Carter (2014), parents are the source of gendered traits and behaviours in their children. When focussing on Tanzania in existing literature, it remains unclear what the gender stereotypical beliefs of Tanzanian parents are, a gap this study aims to fill. In the current research, twelve parents from the Lake zone region in Tanzania were interviewed. The results show that the majority of the parents have gender stereotypical beliefs about behaviours, activities, rules and expectations when talking about their children. However, parents have less gendered stereotypical beliefs about allowed emotions and disciplining. These findings can be explained by parents holding on to their traditional beliefs about the division of roles for women and men, although their environment is changing due to globalization and urbanization. To decrease gender stereotypical beliefs of parents, recommendations are given to include three aspects in parent training.