Abstract
Sandra Bem has profoundly affected the ways that gender, gender roles, and gender development have been conceptualized and investigated by generations of scholars. Her legacy also offers an inspiring model of how academic scholarship can promote gender-egalitarian policy and practice. In our review, we identify four ways that Bem’s work has shaped gender-development scholarship in general, and our individual and collaborative programs of research in particular. The empirical research and policy we discuss are drawn primarily from the United States, the context in which Bem worked and lived. We begin by describing Bem’s analysis and critique of the societal practices that establish gender as a highly salient social category in the first place. We then outline her contributions to gender-schema approaches, including her conceptual work on gender-schema theories and her empirical work on the effects of gender schematicity on memory and self-socialization. Next we review the parenting strategies Bem suggested and enacted as she attempted to raise gender aschematic, egalitarian children. In the closing section we reflect on Bem’s lifelong commitment to connecting the spheres of social science research, personal life, and public policy. In addition to highlighting ways in which her work has already proven to be inspirational for our own and others’ scholarship and action, we point to ways that it offers rich ideas for future research and action that may clarify gender-developmental processes and may further reduce the constraining effects of societal gender dichotomies on new generations of children.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
ACLU (2012, May 21). ACLU launches “Teach Kids, Not Stereotypes” campaign against single-sex classes rooted in stereotypes. Retrieved from https://www.aclu.org/womens-rights/aclu-launches-teach-kids-not-stereotypes-campaign-against-single-sex-classes-rooted.
Adams, H. (1907/1961). The education of Henry Adams. Cambridge, MA: The Riverside Press. (Original work published 1907).
AirTalk (2011, September 26). Researchers slam single-sex classrooms. Retrieved from http://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/2011/09/26/20817/single-sex-classroom.
American Psychological Association. (1994). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
American Psychological Association Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls. (2007). Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Retrieved from www.apa.org/pi/wpo/sexualization.html.
Baron, D. (1986). Grammar and gender. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Bem, S. L. (1981). Gender schema theory: A cognitive account of sex typing. Psychological Review, 88, 354–364. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.88.4.354.
Bem, S. L. (1983). Gender schema theory and its implications for child development: Raising gender-aschematic children in a gender-schematic society. Signs, 8, 598–616. doi:10.1086/493998.
Bem, S. L. (1993). The lenses of gender: Transforming the debate on sexual inequality. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Bem, S. L. (1995). Dismantling gender polarization and compulsory heterosexuality: Should we turn the volume down or up? Journal of Sex Research, 32, 329–334. doi:10.1080/00224499509551806.
Bem, S. L. (1998). An unconventional family. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Bem, S. L., & Bem, D. J. (1973). Does sex-biased job advertising “aid and abet” sex discrimination? Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 3, 6–18. doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.1973.tb01290.x.
Bigler, R. S. (1995). The role of classification skill in moderating environmental influences on children’s gender stereotyping: A study of the functional use of gender in the classroom. Child Development, 66, 1072–1087. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1995.tb00923.x.
Bigler vs. Sax Debate (2012, October 21). Debate between Dr. Rebecca Bigler and Dr. Leonard Sax. Partial videos retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpRAP7SA67Q and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMJJBt0FGbM.
Bigler, R. S., & Liben, L. S. (1990). The role of attitudes and intervention in gender-schematic processing. Child Development, 61, 1440–1452. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1990.tb02873.x.
Bigler, R. S., & Liben, L. S. (1992). Cognitive mechanisms in children’s gender stereotyping: Theoretical and educational implications of a cognitive-based intervention. Child Development, 63, 1351–1363. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1992.tb01700.x.
Bigler, R. S., & Liben, L. S. (2006). A developmental intergroup theory of social stereotypes and prejudice. In R. V. Kail (Ed.), Advances in child development and behavior (Vol. 34, pp. 39–89). San Diego: Elsevier.
Bigler, R. S., & Liben, L. S. (2007). Developmental intergroup theory: Explaining and reducing children’s social stereotyping and prejudice. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16, 162–166. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00496.x.
Bigler, R. S., Jones, L. C., & Lobliner, D. B. (1997). Social categorization and the formation of intergroup attitudes in children. Child Development, 68, 530–543. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1997.tb01956.x.
Bigler, R. S., Brown, C. S., & Markell, M. (2001). When groups are not created equal: Effects of group status on the formation of intergroup attitudes in children. Child Development, 72, 1151–1162. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00339.
Bigler, R. S., Hayes, A. R., & Liben, L. S. (2014). Analysis and evaluation of the rationales for single-sex schooling. In L. S. Liben & R. S. Bigler (Eds.), J. Benson (Series Ed.), Advances in child development and behavior: The role of gender in educational contexts and outcomes (Vol. 47, pp. 225-260). San Diego, CA: Elsevier. doi:10.1016/bs.acdb.2014.04.002.
Blakemore, J. E. O., Berenbaum, S. A., & Liben, L. S. (2009). Gender development. New York: Taylor & Francis.
Booth, A. E., & Waxman, S. R. (2003). Mapping words to the world in infancy: Infants’ expectations for count nouns and adjectives. Journal of Cognition and Development, 4, 357–381. doi:10.1207/S15327647JCD0403_06.
Bradbard, M. R., & Endsley, R. C. (1983). The effects of sex-typed labeling on preschool children’s information-seeking and retention. Sex Roles, 9, 247–260. doi:10.1007/BF00289627.
Bradbard, M. R., Martin, C. L., Endsley, R. C., & Halverson, C. F. (1986). Influence of sex stereotypes on children’s exploration and memory: A competence versus performance distinction. Developmental Psychology, 22, 481–486. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.22.4.481.
Brown, C. S. (2013). Legal issues surrounding single-sex schools: Trends, court cases, and conflicting laws. Sex Roles, 69, 356–362. doi:10.1007/s11199-011-0001-x.
Casasola, M. (2005). Can language do the driving? The effect of linguistic input on infants’ categorization of support spatial relations. Developmental Psychology, 41, 183–192. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.41.1.183.
Coyle, E. F. & Liben, L. S. (in press). Affecting girls’ job and activity interests through play: The moderating roles of personal gender salience and game characteristics. Child Development.
Eliot, L. (2013). Single-sex education and the brain. Sex Roles, 69, 363–381. doi:10.1007/s11199-011-0037-y.
Emmerich, W. (1973). Socialization and sex-role development. In P. B. Baltes & K. W. Schaie (Eds.), Life-span developmental psychology: Personality and socialization (pp. 123–144). San Diego: Academic.
Fine, C., & Duke, R. (2015). Considering the role of ‘neuro-essentialism’ in the single-sex education debate: A commentary on Liben. Sex Roles, 72, 427–433. doi:10.2307/1128436.
Flerx, V. C., Fidler, D. S., & Rogers, R. W. (1976). Sex role stereotypes: Developmental aspects and early intervention. Child Development, 47, 998–1007. doi:10.2307/1128436.
Gelman, S. A., & Heyman, G. D. (1999). Carrot-eaters and creature-believers: The effects of lexicalization on children’s inferences about social categories. Psychological Science, 10, 489–493. doi:10.1111/1467-9280.00194.
Gelman, S. A., Taylor, M. G., & Nguyen, S. P. (2004). Mother-child conversations about gender. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 69(1), vii–127. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5834.2004.06901002.x.
Green, V. A., Bigler, R. S., & Catherwood, D. (2004). The variability and flexibility of gender-typed toy play: A close look at children’s behavioral responses to counterstereotypic models. Sex Roles, 51, 371–386. doi:10.1023/B:SERS.0000049227.05170.aa.
Gurian, M., Stevens, K., & Daniel, P. (2009). Successful single-sex classrooms: A practical guide to teaching boys and girls separately. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Halpern, D. F., Eliot, L., Bigler, R. S., Fabes, R. A., Hanish, L. D., Hyde, J., Liben, L. S., & Martin, C. L. (2011). The pseudoscience of single-sex schooling. Science, 333, 1706–1707. doi:10.1126/science.1205031.
Hilliard, L. J., & Liben, L. S. (2010). Differing levels of gender salience in preschool classrooms: Effects on children’s gender attitudes and intergroup bias. Child Development, 81, 1787–1798. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01510.x.
Johnston, J., & Ettema, J. S. (1982). Positive images: Breaking stereotypes with children’s television. Beverley Hills: Sage.
Kagan, J. (1964). Acquisition and significance of sex typing and sex-role identity. In M. L. Hoffman & L. W. Hoffman (Eds.), Review of child development research (Vol. 1, pp. 137–167). New York: Russell Sage.
Katz, P. A. (1986). Modification of children’s gender-stereotyped behavior: General issues and research considerations. Sex Roles, 14, 591–602. doi:10.1007/BF00287690.
Keener, E., Mehta, C., & Strough, J. (2013). Should educators and parents encourage other-gender interactions? Gender segregation and sexism. Gender and Education, 25, 818–833. doi:10.1080/09540253.2013.845648.
Kerman, P. W. (1974). Sex discrimination in help wanted advertising. Santa Clara Law Review, 15. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/lawreview/vol15/iss1/5.
Klein, S. S. (2012). State of public school sex segregation in the United States 2007-2010. Part I: Patterns of K-12 single-sex public education in the U.S. Retrieved from www.feminist.org/education/SexSegregation.asp.
Koblinsky, S. G., Cruse, D. F., & Sugawara, A. I. (1978). Sex role stereotypes and children’s memory for story content. Child Development, 49, 452–458. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1978.tb02335.x.
Kohlberg, L. (1966). A cognitive-developmental analysis of children’s sex-role concepts and attitudes. In E. E. Maccoby (Ed.), The development of sex differences (pp. 82–173). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Lamb, L., Bigler, R. S., Liben, L. S., & Green, V. A. (2009). Teaching children to confront peers’ sexist remarks: Implications for theories of gender development and educational practice. Sex Roles, 61, 361–382. doi:10.1007/s11199-009-9634-4.
Leaper, C., & Bigler, R. S. (2011). Gender. In M. K. Underwood & L. H. Rosen (Eds.), Social development: Relationships in infancy, childhood, and adolescence (pp. 289–315). New York: Guilford Press.
Liben, L. S. (2015). Probability values and human values in evaluating single-sex education. Sex Roles, 72, 401–426. doi:10.1007/s11199-014-0438-9.
Liben, L. S., & Bigler, R. S. (1987). Reformulating children’s gender schemata. In L. S. Liben & M. L. Signorella (Eds.), New directions for child development: Children’s gender schemata (pp. 89–105). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Liben, L. S., & Bigler, R. S. (2002). The developmental course of gender differentiation: Conceptualizing, measuring, and evaluating constructs and pathways. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 67(2), vii–147. doi:10.1111/1540-5834.t01-1-00187.
Liben, L. S., & Signorella, M. L. (1980). Gender-related schemata and constructive memory in children. Child Development, 51, 11–18. doi:10.2307/1129584.
Liben, L. S., & Signorella, M. L. (1993). Gender schematic processing in children: The role of initial interpretations of stimuli. Developmental Psychology, 29, 141–149. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.29.1.141.
Liben, L. S., Bigler, R. S., & Krogh, H. R. (2002). Language at work: Children’s gendered interpretations of occupational titles. Child Development, 73, 810–828. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00440.
Liben, L. S., Bigler, R. S., & Hilliard, L. J. (2014). Gender development: From universality to individuality. In E. T. Gershoff, R. Mistry, & D. Crosby (Eds.), Societal contexts of child development: Pathways of influence and implications for practice and policy (pp. 3–34). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lynn, D. B. (1969). Parental and sex-role identification: A theoretical formulation. Berkeley: McCutchan Publishing.
Maccoby, E. E. (2002). Gender and group process: A developmental perspective. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 54–58. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00167.
Marten, L. A., & Matlin, M. W. (1976). Does sexism in elementary readers still exist? The Reading Teacher, 29, 764–767. doi:10.1007/BF01544132.
Martin, C. L., & Halverson, C. F. (1981). A schematic processing model of sex typing and stereotyping in children. Child Development, 52, 1119–1134. doi:10.2307/1129498.
Martin, C. L., Fabes, R. A., & Hanish, L. (2014). Gendered-peer relationships in educational contexts. In L. S. Liben & R. S. Bigler (Eds.), J. Benson (Series Ed.), Advances in child development and behavior: The role of gender in educational contexts and outcomes. (Vol. 47, pp. 151–187). San Diego, CA: Elsevier. doi:10.1016/bs.acdb.2014.04.002.
McKenney, S. J., & Bigler, R. S. (2014). High heels, low grades: Internalized sexualization and academic orientation among adolescent girls. Journal of Research on Adolescence. doi:10.1111/jora.12179.
Oberlin College. (2015). Gender policies. Retrieved from http://new.oberlin.edu/office/housing/housing-options/gender-policies/.
Pahlke, E., Bigler, R. S., & Green, V. A. (2010). Effects of learning about historical gender discrimination on early adolescents’ occupational judgments and aspirations. Journal of Early Adolescence, 30, 854–894. doi:10.1177/0272431609361200.
Pahlke, E., Bigler, R. S., & Martin, C. L. (2014a). Can fostering children’s ability to challenge sexism improve critical analysis, internalization, and enactment of inclusive, egalitarian peer relationships? Journal of Social Issues, 70, 115–133. doi:10.1111/josi.12050.
Pahlke, E., Bigler, R. S., & Patterson, M. M. (2014b). Reasoning about single-sex schooling for girls among students, parents, and teachers. Sex Roles, 71, 261–271. doi:10.1007/s11199-014-0410-8.
Pahlke, E., Hyde, J. S., & Allison, C. M. (2014c). The effects of single-sex compared with coeducational schooling on students’ performance and attitudes: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 140, 1042–1072. doi:10.1037/a0035740.
Patterson, M. M., & Bigler, R. S. (2006). Preschool children’s attention to environmental messages about groups: Social categorization and the origins of intergroup bias. Child Development, 77, 847–860. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00906.x.
Patterson, M. M., Bigler, R. S., & Swann, W. B. (2010). When personal identities confirm versus conflict with group identities: Evidence from an intergroup paradigm. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 652–670. doi:10.1002/ejsp.747.
Piaget, J. (1970). Piaget’s theory. In P. Mussen (Ed.), Carmichael’s manual of child psychology (pp. 703–732). New York: Wiley.
Sax, L. (2005). Why gender matters. New York: Doubleday.
Scelfo, J. (2015). They. Education Life, The New York Times, p. ED.18.
Shepelak, N. J., Ogden, D., & Tobin-Bennett, D. (1984). The influence of gender labels on the sex typing of imaginary occupations. Sex Roles, 11, 983–996. doi:10.1007/BF00288128.
Sherwin, G. L. (2015). Anecdotal and essentialist arguments for single-sex educational programs discussed by Liben: A legal analysis. Sex Roles, 72, 434–435. doi:10.1007/s11199-015-0478-9 y.
Signorella, M. L., & Bigler, R. S. (2011). Single-sex schooling: Part I [Special issue]. Sex Roles, 65(9/10).
Signorella, M. L., & Bigler, R. S. (2013a). Single-sex schooling: Part II [Special issue]. Sex Roles, 69(7/8).
Signorella, M. L., & Bigler, R. S. (2013b). Single-sex schooling: Bridging science and school boards in educational policy. Sex Roles, 69, 349–355. doi:10.1007/s11199-013-0313-0.
Signorella, M. L., & Liben, L. S. (1984). Recall and reconstruction of gender-related pictures: Effects of attitude, task difficulty, and age. Child Development, 55, 393–405. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.29.1.141.
Signorella, M. L., Hayes, A. R., & Li, Y. (2013). A meta-analytic critique of Mael et al’.s (2005) review of single-sex schooling. Sex Roles, 69, 423–442. doi:10.1007/s11199-013-0288-x.
Soffel, J. (2011, September 25). Swedish preschool has no time for “him” or “her”; The school hopes to promote equality by eschewing gendered nouns and pronouns. Los Angeles Times, A.10.
Starr, C. R., & Ferguson, G. M. (2012). Sexy dolls, sexy grade-schoolers? Media and maternal influences on young girls’ self-sexualization. Sex Roles, 67, 463–476. doi:10.1007/s11199-012-0183-x.
Stockford, M. (2004). The Bellwomen: The story of the landmark AT&T sex discrimination case. Rutgers: Rutgers University Press.
Weisgram, E. S., & Bigler, R. S. (2007). Effects of learning about gender discrimination on adolescent girls’ attitudes toward and interest in science. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 31, 262–269. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.2007.00369.x.
Weitzman, L. J., Eifler, D., Hokada, E., & Ross, C. (1972). Sex-role socialization in picture books for preschool children. American Journal of Sociology, 77, 1125–1150. doi:10.1086/225261.
Ethical Standards
The authors are collectively responsible for the contents of this manuscript, which was prepared in accordance with the ethical standards of the Society for Research in Child Development.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Liben, L.S., Bigler, R.S. Understanding and Undermining the Development of Gender Dichotomies: The Legacy of Sandra Lipsitz Bem. Sex Roles 76, 544–555 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-015-0519-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-015-0519-4