Browsing by Subject "feminiinisyys"

In all times and in every culture, there has been mutual consensus about the norms that define what kind of features has been seen feminine, masculine or gender neutral. The purpose of this research was to describe thru applied statistic methods what kind of features Finnish parents of 0-6-years-old children consider masculine, feminine of neutral in children's clothes. Besides this question the research aimed to reveal how children's clothing is considered to effect on the development of one's identity, what is parents' view on social norms and does one's age, education or residential area effect on how they view the gender aspect of children's clothes. The research was carried out as an internet survey in Mars 2017. The link to survey was shared on Facebook, in various kinds of parenting groups as well as on private users' walls. After the raw data was defines, the sample of participant was 2130. In the analysis both SPSS 24 and Excel were used as well as manual analyzing. The research data showed that most of the participants considered survey's clothes gender neutral, but still there were some clear features that were seen gendered. E.g. darker shades of blue and vehicles were associated with masculinity, whereas different shades of pink and floral prints were connected to femininity. Furthermore, the clothes connected primarily to femininity had higher percentage of feminine answers than what those connected primarily to masculinity had answers for masculine. The statements about social norm and identity development reviled that clothes are seen to effect on child's identity, though emphasising child's own will of choice. The answers also show that the traditional norms are recognised, but simultaneously it is evident that the outlook on them is on change. The underlying factors of the participants did not seem to have remarkable effect on how they viewed the clothes. Nevertheless, those participants with higher education or who lived in Uusimaa region were slightly more likely to consider clothes gender neutral than other participants of the survey. The theme for the research could be taken further thru many ways by changing the research frame, e.g. focusing on children's clothes of different age groups or on the models and patterns of children's clothes.