Teachers can tackle gender stereotypes by listening out for the types of voices chosen by children when acting out different professional roles, according to an expert.
The research, carried out at the University of Sussex, found that children between the age of 5 and 10 spontaneously “masculinised” their voices, by lowering pitch and resonance, when asked to imitate workers of stereotypically masculine jobs - for example, when asked: “How would a mechanic say...?”
Other roles that fell into this category included builders and lorry drivers.
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And children “feminised” their voices for stereotypically female occupations such as babysitters, beauticians and nursing, by raising their pitch and resonance, the research found.
This was true even when children expressed no bias in a questionnaire devised to assess explicit gender stereotyping.
According to the results, boys tended to show the strongest bias.
Girls’ inclination to exaggerate their gendered voices to imitate workers in different professions dropped at around seven, but it continued to increase beyond that age with boys.
Boys also used an overtly masculine voice even when imitating workers in gender-neutral roles including doctors, students and writers, the study found.
Professor Jane Oakhill, one of the authors of the study, said: “The strength of stereotypicality based on vocal pitch revealed stereotypes that were not found in children’s direct responses to the conventional questions about men and women doing different jobs.
“This suggests that children continue to entertain gender stereotypes even if they are not prepared to say so explicitly.
“Unconscious bias training should also include voice cues to help teachers and parents become aware of and challenge biases about gender stereotypes in relation to particular jobs.”
The study was conducted on 82 children between the age of five and 10 in a primary school in Sussex.
