0236 Childhood and Gender in the Faroe Islands

The aim of this ethnographic PhD project, “Childhood and Gender in the Faroe Islands”, is to study how gender and gendered beliefs affect and shape the lives of children in daycare and homes in a small island society like the Faroe Islands.
As many studies have found, gender inequality does not start in adulthood. It begins in early childhood. Thus, it is essential to find out how children navigate gender and how gender is emerging through both materiality and discourse, affecting their agency and perception of possibilities in life.
The theoretical framework in the study is based on Agential Realism, where the concepts of time, space and matter are seen as dynamic and intertwined.
Gender equality is often seen as an essential part of early childhood pedagogy to ensure children´s democratic rights according to "The Rights of the Child" as intended by the United Nations. However, research indicates that these rights are often not upheld in pedagogical practices.
To get an understanding of how children´s gender affects their everyday lives, participant observations and interviews are used as methods to gain insight into the intraactions between children and their peers, daycare staff, and parents across time and space.
Also, human- and non-human elements are dynamic and intraactive, meaning each element affects and changes the other. History is shaped through discourse, and childhood and gender in the present are closely connected to different times and place.