Browsing by Subject "Diskurssi"

Gender appears in our lives as an obvious way that permeates all levels of society and culture. Perceptions of perceived differences between women and men and gender roles are formed in early childhood. Children are guided to gender-specific behavior in many ways, both consciously and unconsciously. Early childhood education is one institution that repeats and renews the values that prevail in society. Previous studies examining the daily life and practices of daycares from a gender perspective have shown that children's sex is assumed to reflect the interests of girls and boys and girls and boys are subjected to gendered expectations. In this thesis, I look at the construction of gender in the daily life of daycare. I am interested in what kind of perceptions daycare educators have about gender and what kind of possibilities of being and acting these perceptions enable for different way gendered children in their in everyday life. The theoretical and methodological starting points of my theses are based on feminist, poststructuralist theorizations, in which language is not thought to reflect an already existing reality but to create and produce it. The research material has been produced in one daycare in Keski-Uusimaa using ethnographic methods. I followed the activities of one group for six days observing and with recording. The adults of the group also participated in two group interviews. The research material has been analyzed by discursive methods. My research revealed that gender articulations were intertwined around sex/gender distinction through differentiating. Gender is produced in daycare in the gendered order of action and by attaching different characteristics and assumptions to girls and boys. The biological dichotomy of gender and the consequent normative expectations and assumptions about girls and boys allow girls and boys to have gender-differentiated opportunities for action.