Dr Christia Brown is a psychology professor at the University of Kentucky. She is also the author of 'Parenting Beyond Pink and Blue: How to Raise your Kids Free of Gender Stereotypes'- a guide to help parents focus on their child's individual strengths rather than gender stereotypes. 

​

She has noticed an increase in the amount of parents raising their children gender neutral:

​

"As this generation of millennials start to have kids, I think their attention to social equality is shaping the way in which parents think about their kids. They're thinking about how can we raise them in a more socially egalitarian way."

​

She has found that parents are the main influencers when it comes to their children's perception of gender, so can help them avoid gender stereotypes through their language: 

​

"Kids start to really pay attention to gender when they're about two or three years old and so that's when parents can help them have a language for what is gender and what's a stereotype. So really combating all the messages kids are going to get inundated with just by paying attention to the world."

​

Listen: Dr Christia Brown explains how children learn about gender?

​

​