Examination of the parents' and teachers' perspectives regarding the role of media in the gender perceptions of preschool children

The aim of this research is to examine the perspectives of parents and teachers regarding the role of media in the gender perceptions of preschool children. For this reason, the research was planned as a phenomenological approach, one of the qualitative research methods to find out the perspectives of the participants regarding the role of the media on children's gender perceptions, to reveal and analyze their experiences. The study group of the research was selected by purposeful sampling and purposeful criterion sampling method. The study group was composed of 32 parents and 2 teachers in total, 8 parents and 1 teacher for each kindergarten from 2 pre-school education institutions. In the semi-structured interview forms, questions were asked to parents and teachers to determine what their observations were regarding the media role of children regarding gender perceptions, how they interpret and how they guide children's discourse and behavior. While the interviews were recorded manually by the researcher, they were recorded in the audio to prevent data loss. The data was put into the computer as raw data, then the researchers first coded the data separately, then came together and coded together. Thus, content analysis was made to investigate the subject in depth by creating a suitable theme and code from these data. Research findings are discussed on the basis of gender-oriented social components and feminist theory. In this context, the presence of patriarchy was felt intensively in the responses of the participating parents to the behaviors of the children, which indicated the effect of the media on the children gender. Teachers, on the other hand, were found to be in a position to strive for an idea based on gender equality. Only mothers sharing with teachers is the result of unequal division of labor based on gender. When women leave their workplace and come home, they have a great role in housework and childcare, so it is concluded that the fathers have an estimated answer in their views due to their low role in the care of their children. Parents should be made aware of their children's gender perceptions and the role of the media. Seminars can be organized for parents to raise awareness about the messages of the media. Likewise, workshops can be organized to give place or focus on media interpretation lessons and to increase parent-teacher cooperation during teachers' professional training. By making a comprehensive change in the media, programs should be made based on gender equality, leaving traditional stereotypes and roles, it can be said that the problem of gender inequality in media channels should be solved in order to ensure gender equality. Key words: gender perception, preschool period, parents, teachers, media