Gender Stereotyping in Infant Clothing

Introduction:  How do we know what makes something a "girl" or "boy" thing?  Scientists have been studying what tendencies we are born with and what ones we pick up from our surroundings for along time.  In the fall, I had a baby (Note:  I am a teacher at FSM, not a student!).  I have always been interested in how gender is reinforced by clothing choices, but my baby's arrival made me even more aware of the clothing available for babies   I wondered, though, if I was seeing all of the sides of the issues.  I thought that a careful exploration of baby clothing would help me to see what messages may be hidden in babies' clothing.

Investigation:  I analyzed the available clothing for babies (18 months or younger) at two stores: babyGap and Gymboree.  At babyGap, I looked at the "Brannan's Favorites" collections for boys and girls and at the bodysuits (called onesies by Gymboree).  I counted:  colors, patterns, graphics and slogans on each.  I also noted detailing that was used to distinguish the clothing as "boy" or "girl."  At Gymboree, I looked at the available tops/onesies for 3-6 month old girls and boys.  I counted: colors, graphics and slogans.  I looked at both in the stores and online.  In stores, sections were not marked as boys or girls, but the delineation was clear.  Online, the sections were clearly marked, and no pieces were offered in both the boys' and girls' sections.

Before this investigation, my assumptions were that the baby boys clothing would mainly be blues and "earth tones" and that the baby girls would have more pink.  I had previously noticed that boys' clothing tended to have sports or animals.  Girls' clothing seemed mainly to have flowers or hearts on it but rarely have sports or animals (monkeys seemed to be the exception).

At babyGap, I found that their theme for both the girls' and boys' line this year seems to be animals.  I was surprised to find so many animals in the girls' collection (lion, giraffe, kangaroo, monkey) and interested to see that they used animal prints, as well as polka dot and stripes, in their patterns for girls.  I noted, though, that they still did something to make the animal shirts seem more for girls:  pink ink for the graphic, pink shoes on the zebras, glamorous sunglasses on the cat and the kangaroo with a baby in its pouch.  The majority of the girls clothing was pink, white or teal blue, although black, orange, orange/red. lavender, yellow and navy blue were available.  All of the girls tops either had "puffy" sleeves, bows, shirring, ruffles or bricabrac trim to show it as girls' clothing, even if it was a solid color or otherwise plain bodysuit.  The pants also were shirred or gathered at the leg opening (on both shorts and pants).  Animal print and solid were the dominant patterns.

The boys' clothing at babyGap was more diverse with light blue, brown, white, navy blue,  and green tied for numbers of options.  Royal blue, teal blue, orange, yellow and white were also available.  Stripes and solid were the dominant patterns.  In fact there were only a few options (6 out of 81) that were NOT stripe or solid.  Graphics featured animals.  There were some that were more like cartoons (as in the girls' clothing) but there were also realistic prints of an elephant, a giraffe and a meerkat.  The boys' clothing also used pockets and collars to distinguish it as boys' clothing.  42 of the 81 pieces had pockets (as opposed to 3 of the 78 girls' pieces), and 12 had collars (no girls' clothing had collars).

At Gymboree, colors available for girls included pink, pale blue, orange, chartreuse, yellow, brown, white and lavendar.  The majority of the clothing was pink.  Colors available for boys were pale blue, brown, orange, dark blue, red, green grey, white and yellow.  No color had a clear majority in the boys clothing.  Graphics for girls featured food (popsicles, ice cream and citrus) and animals that were either baby animals or "cute" (big and little giraffes and elephants, kissing fish, turtle in pastel colors).  Graphics for boys featured vehicles (surf boards, skate boards, jeep, motorcycle) and animals (including shark, whale, monkey, bull, specific dionsaurs, lion and snake).

Values and My Thoughts:  
A hidden message I expected to find was that certain colors were only for girls or only for boys.  This was not as true as I expected.  Although pink is still only available in the girls' clothing, light blue, orange, yellow, white, grey, and brown were available to both.  babyGap seems to have decided that green is a boys' color this season, but Gymboree had pieces in green for both girls and boys.

I was, however, most concerned by the actual messages printed on the clothes.  There were message patterns at babyGap and Gymboree, but they were more clear at Gymboree.  I have removed the ones with gender in them but let me list them, and see if you can guess which is which:

Group 1:  undersea adventures, whale xing, little explorer, what’s up, I’m in charge (with a picture of a bull),  trouble maker, mommy’s mvp, I dig dinos, surf’s up, keep surfin’, wave rider, I do my own stunts, island hopper, my dad is rad, stunt double, lil’ sk8r, skate monkey, 4-wheelin', little animal

Group 2:   I scream, You make me melt, totally sweet, monkeying around, Wild about daddy, red white and cute, daddy’s main squeeze, squeeze me, orange you glad I’m so cute, America’s sweetheart, I want candy, sweet as an angel, sun-kissed, make a splash, kiss me, turtle-y cute, clowning around

(Removed:  Lil' sis, little brother, big brother, Queen of the jungle, Lion King, Mr. Tuff Guy, Good boy, surfer dude)

Lately, there have been many researchers focusing on brain-based differences and how they affect children.  But how could a 3-6 month old baby (the age of these shirts) be exhibiting any of these characteristics?  Group 1 was for boys, but I have not met many in this age group that could ride skateboards or surf.  What values are in these shirts?

The boys' messages are all "action" oriented, and the girls' are focused on the appearance or on slogans that say "don't take me seriously" (clowning around, make a splash, monkeying around).  No matter what differences we might have from the time we are born, these shirts are sending strong messages about the roles of girls and boys.  I think they contribute to inequity not only in how they teach young boys and girls to think of themselves but also in how they condition the adults who look at them.

We still have a country where women do not earn as much as men and where women still have difficulty being taken seriously in certain industries and jobs.  There are still jobs (like teaching) that are viewed as women's work, rather than men's.  Are these onesies and t-shirts responsible for this?  No--that would be too dramatic of a claim.  But what would happen if babies just wore simple colors and patterns that appealed to both the parents of boys and girls?  What if there weren't any slogans?  Would adults start to change how they view girls and boys?  Would boys and girls change their minds about thinking certain things are for boys or girls only?

Interested in more about how are assumptions might guide children's development?  Check out this review of Lise Eliot's Pink Brain, Blue Brain.  Want to know about some of the science that supports the idea of brain-based differences?  Check out the links on this website