UC Irvine

Scholars have demonstrated how parents are important agents of gender socialization for children, often funneling children into gender conformity. Less work has considered how families today challenge traditional gender ideologies in their parenting practices. Using data from 22 in-depth interviews with mothers in Southern California, this study examines how mothers understand and enact strategies of gender-neutral parenting, a collection of parenting strategies that challenge traditional gender norms. This research finds that mothers’ gender ideologies and parenting behaviours were in tension, as they simultaneously avoided the label of gender-neutral parenting while enacting aspects of this parenting style. As part of this tension, mothers – motivated by ideas about gender equality and bodily autonomy – socialized their children into gender via two distinct strategies. First, mothers minimized gender differences by treating girls and boys equally and using gender-neutral language. Secondly, mothers supported gender non-conformity by challenging gender roles and supporting children’s non-conforming expressions. These findings suggest that mothers challenge traditional gender ideologies in their parenting practices. Because the scope of gender identities and expressions is expanding beyond the binary, it is imperative to understand how parents view the task of gender socialization within a changing world.