Gender-Awareness amongst Brazilian Children Enrolled in Primary Education: Implications for Women’s Rights & Equality

Abstract

The general objectives of this article were to investigate what are the perceptions of Brazilian children enrolled in primary education over gender-assigned roles and the place of women in society and to analyze what could be the impacts of their answers on the foreseeable future of women’s rights and equality in contemporary Brazil. This research was drawn from a qualitative approach and our research method was composed of data collection and data analysis through the use of surveys. Our main conclusions were that gender dynamics within the family core influences a lot the perception of children over gender hierarchies, which can result in repeating patterns of gender inequality and in reinforcing pre-assigned roles for women in society. Thus, the role of gender education is paramount in the task of helping these children challenge and question this unequal and often unjust power balance that takes place in their households. When asked about what they considered to be the role of women in society, the majority of the children surveyed answered that women should work and be responsible for activities such as taking care of the family or doing housework. This vision imposes a burden upon women to follow certain social roles as well as limits the future visions they have for themselves.

Keywords

• Children. Primary education. Gender education. Gender equality. Women’s rights. Brazil.