A cross-cultural evaluation of children’s drawings of gender role stereotypes in Italian and Cambodian students

Drawings of ‘an individual on a working day’ and ‘on a non-working day’ were collected from 203 children from Cambodia and Italy, aged seven to fourteen years. This cross-cultural study aimed to explore the influence of gender stereotypes in drawing, including similarities and differences according to nationality, gender, and age (children vs. pre-adolescents). As in previous similar drawing studies, samegender figures were overwhelmingly portrayed, with no differences between the two nationalities, ages, and genders. Overall, females drew a greater number of oppositegender figures than males. The tendency to draw males by females was stronger in the Italian sample. Some differences between Cambodians and Italians were also found concerning the identity categories of the characters drawn. Stereotyped masculine activities on a working day prevailed in the Italian sample. The results are discussed in relation to previous research in developmental psychology and invite future research to further consider cultural influences in the study of gender stereotypes in children and pre-adolescents.