What are gender roles?

Gender roles are rules about what people usually do or like to do based on whether they're a boy or a girl.

Imagine you have two toy boxes, one is blue and the other is pink. Sometimes, people think that boys should play with the blue toys and girls should play with the pink ones. That’s a kind of gender role.

• Expectations: Like when we expect a boy to be brave or a girl to be gentle.
• Activities: Like when we think boys like sports and girls like dancing.
• Clothing: Like wearing pants or dresses.

But just because that’s the usual way doesn’t mean it’s the only way! Some people like to play with both pink and blue toys, or wear whatever they want. That's totally okay too!

Sometimes, people use them to help everyone know what to expect, kind of like a map for life. But sometimes they can feel like rules that aren’t always fair.

You can be as creative as you want with your gender role, there’s no one right way to be a boy or a girl!