The Perception of Schemas and Gender Bias in the Attribution of Distributive Actions

This study investigated the early development of gender bias in the context of distributive actions. Children aged 2.5, 3.8, 5, and 8 years were presented with events in which a hidden distributor performed fair or unfair distributions of resources, and were then asked to identify the distributor by choosing between a schematic male and a schematic female figure. Children aged 3.8 years attributed fair distributions more frequently to the male figure, while 5-year-olds attributed unfair distributions more frequently to the male figure. No significant gender-based attributions were found at 2.5 or 8 years of age. Analyses by sex of participant revealed a gender bias among male 3.8-year-olds, who attributed fair distributions preferentially to the male figure, and a gender prejudice among female 8-year-olds, who attributed fair distributions to the female figure and unfair distributions to the male figure. Taken together, these findings provide additional evidence for an early-emerging gender bias in distributive reasoning and support prior literature on the later consolidation of gender prejudice. These results shed light on the importance of early childhood education in addressing gender bias before it solidifies into more entrenched attitudes, promoting counter-stereotypical role models and distributive justice to mitigate the development of gender-based attributions from the earliest years of life.