ERIC Number: ED226829
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1982-Dec
Pages: 36
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Girls Who Play Boys' Games, Girls Who Play Girls' Games, Girls Who Don't Play at All.
Borman, Kathryn M.; Gesterkamp, Ellen
A male bias in United States society persists in that power, competitiveness, and rational planning are rewarded while nurturing, cooperation, and intimacy are devalued. This pattern of societal "reinforcement" severely penalizes women. Social learning in childhood, particularly in games, much like on-the-job training in adulthood, has important outcomes in allowing access to privileged occupational positions. To explore such theses, a study was made of informal interaction during recess in three diverse school settings in the Cincinnati metropolitan area. The major purpose of the study was to investigate, in third and sixth graders, differences in reported and observed rates of participation in highly complex playground games. Consistent with previous related research, findings showed that boys participated in complex games more than did girls. Two years following the playground study, 287 of the original group of 400 children were located and a survey of the children's occupational interests was taken, using the Project Talent Interest Inventory. Subsequently, a series of interviews was conducted with eight ninth-grade girls from the initial study's older cohort. Tentative conclusions were reached concerning the association between girls' earlier participation in playground activities and their current academic progress and occupational plans. (The interview questionnaire is appended.) (RH)
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Inst. of Education (ED), Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association (Washington, DC, December 1982).