To eliminate stereotypical gender associations such as pink is for girls and blue is for boys, front-line child care workers are changing how they interact with students.

A group of day care teachers has come up with genderless sticker labels for preschoolers, while a kindergarten operator hosted a lecture on gender equality for child care workers.

An expert says such efforts should be aimed at granting freedom of choice regardless of gender and not at eliminating stereotypes.

GENDERLESS STICKERS

Satoshi Amano says he doesn't remember playing with other boys often when he was growing up. Instead, he stuck with his older twin sisters and played house with other girls.

But he recalls waiting alone at a distant location after he was told to "go to work" and was left out of their group.

When he was a kindergartener, he used to say he wanted to be a carpenter or work in an occupation along those lines when asked what he wanted to do in the future. He thought that it would be an acceptable response to adults.

Amano, now a day care teacher working in Nagoya, founded an association with about 30 of his peers called Nijiiro Hoiku no Kai (The association for rainbow child care). 

Many members of it are LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender).

They felt they could use their own difficult experiences from childhood and thought it would be easier to raise questions on gender issues if they worked together.

Amano feels that front-line day care workers have a tendency to believe without reservation that boys should act like stereotypical boys and girls should behave like stereotypical girls.

He also thinks there is a need for discussions because he sees traditional events intended for male-female couples are conducted on a routine basis.

He is worried that some children may find it dispiriting to be forced into gender roles when they celebrate traditional festivals.

Amano thinks kindergartens and other public places must provide an environment where any form of gender diversity is recognized as an identity.

From two years ago, the day care teacher has been encouraging his workplace to use musical instruments, vegetables and other genderless themes for stickers given to students to label their belongings and storage spaces.

Nijiiro Hoiku no Kai also asked Chiaki Kato, a graphic designer who provides illustrations for children's study materials, to create artworks such as a sausage, a post box and a jellyfish.

The group raised funds through a crowdfunding campaign to distribute the stickers to 309 day care centers, kindergartens and registered "kodomo-en" child care and education centers across the country by the end of May.

"I don't think children will feel free to express their individuality just because the sticker labels are changed," Amano said.

"Instead, (our work) is aimed at adults," he continued. "We want to make the stickers into a tool that encourages them to step back and discuss the issue and also make them realize how much they have forced their beliefs onto children. There is no need to bind girls to cute things just because they are girls."

ENCOURAGING FUTURE PURSUITS

Global Kids Corp., which operates authorized child care facilities and other institutions mainly in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area, hosted a lecture on gender equality for child care workers last year.

"We may have meant no harm with what we have been doing, but I realized for the first time the seriousness of our actions that could lead to the formation of preconceptions about gender," said Teruko Kurimoto, director of a Global Kids day care center in the Myogadani district of Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward.

She has been working as a child care worker for more than 20 years.

At the day care, children, not their teachers, choose their favorite color for origami used for traditional festivals.

Previously, teachers told boys and girls to change their clothes in separate rooms before recreational water activities and physical exams. Now, however, they call children by name to divide them into groups instead of grouping them by gender.

During a recent graduation ceremony, four children announced what they wanted to be when they grew up.

One girl said she wanted to become a day care teacher, while another said she wanted to be a soccer player.

On the other hand, one boy said he wanted to be a pastry chef while another said he wanted to become a police officer.

Kurimoto said she felt it was easier for the children to freely express themselves.

"Gender equality is all about giving people freedom to choose from various expressions and roles regardless of gender differences--not about eliminating gender stereotypes," said Takako Uchimizaki, a professor at Kawamura Gakuen Woman's University, who is well-versed in gender equality education and served as an instructor for training programs at Global Kids.

She also said it would be nice if girls were complimented on their cool-looking belongings and boys for their cute items.

As for traditional events intended for male-female couples, the professor added: "It doesn't mean that holding such events is problematic, and it is important to introduce children to diversity, telling them there are not only heterosexual couples, but also male-male and female-female couples, not to mention it is also fine to remain single."