Picture a group of 2- and 3-year-old Swedish boys playing in an outdoor kitchen while a number of girls in that same age group run about in the snow, whooping and hollering. A recent New York Times article by Ellen Barry highlighted research being done in Swedish preschools in which teachers are breaking down gender barriers and limiting gender role expectations on emotional expression and behavior in children (Barry, 2018). Sweden’s progressive approach to dealing with gendered barriers through government-funded preschools encourages teachers to embrace their role not only as social engineers but also as deconstructionists, counteracting traditional gender-role ideology. In these gender-neutral classrooms, teachers avoid sex segregation for tasks, and instead of using the terms boys and girls when referring to the children, they opt for the more inclusive friends. Girls and boys are freely given responsibility and access to tasks and activities that might traditionally be designated by gender roles (e.g., boys are encouraged to play in the kitchen and girls are allowed to open windows and scream outside).
To examine the impact of this gender-neutral pedagogy, Shutts, Kenward, Falk, Ivegran, and Fawcett (2017) tested Swedish children from the gender-neutral preschools and typical preschool settings. Children completed measures that assessed their gender attitudes and stereotypes. Shutts and colleagues found that children taught in gender-neutral classrooms were more interested in play with unfamiliar children of either sex compared to children taught in typical preschool classrooms (who preferred playing with same-sex unfamiliar peers). Further, children from the gender-neutral preschools scored lower in measures of gender stereotyping than their peers in typical preschool settings. The researchers argued that this finding suggests that preschool teachers can in fact affect children’s gendered expressions and behaviors. However, the researchers also found that children in both school settings were quick to identify gender (sex) as a salient feature of other children and similarly preferred playing with same-gender (same-sex) children when presented with familiar peers.