In Norway the majority of children attend pre-school at an early age.  The pre-school has become not just an important part of early childhood socialisation but also an important actor in gender socialisations. This aspect is reflecting in the Norwegian pre-school curriculum (2011). According to the curriculum teachers must to strive to promote gender equality in their educational practice.  The principle of gender equality is essential for the activities in pre-school. The curriculum points out that girls and boys must have equal opportunities to be seen and heard and the teachers have a main task to encourage all children to participate in all kinds of activities. The curriculum emphasis the responsibility teachers have in reflecting their own attitudes and expectations towards girls and boys.

For many years there has been an increasing interest in gender differences in pre-schools and schools. Previous research has shown that expectations and treatment of girls and boys from teachers and others are important for how gender is constructed (Jonsdottir, 2007).  In general, boys achieve lower than girls in school (Hammer and Hyggen, 2013, The Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training, 2013). A higher proportion of girls’ complete upper secondary education compared with boys (Statistics Norway 2013). Girls and boys are often treated differently on the basis of gender-based expectations, such as girls being early developers, more considerate, less aggressive and more linguistically advanced (Eidevald, 2009; Månsson, 2000). Based on different gender expectations girls and boys learn to position themselves differently, because teachers in pre-school and school consider girls and boys differently. The aim of our study is to shed light on gender differences in difference and daily life activities activities among toddlers. The research question is:

What differences in coping with daily life activities activities can be identified between girls and boys in the pre-school?

Several longitudinal studies in language, motivation, mathematics and self-regulation show disparities in favour of girls (Friederici et al., 2008; Silverman, 2003; Zambrana, Ystrom, & Pons, 2012). New-born girls show better eye contact, manage to discriminate and show greater attention to verbal stimuli (Friederici et al., 2008; Leeb & Rejskind, 2004).In use of self-regulation learning strategies girls are more likely to use such strategies than boys. Girls also report higher use than boys of goal-setting, planning, monitoring etc.(Meece & Painter, 2008). Other research studies show the same tendency.  Girls are often seen as more communicative and verbal, more intellectual and competent than boys (Jonsdottir, 2007). Boys are more often describe as robust, honest and lively (Jonsdottir, 2007; Warrington & Younger, 2006). Girls tend to build stronger relationship with teachers, attain higher grades and progress better than boys (Matthews, Morrison, & Ponitz, 2009). In contrast, boys are more likely to dropping out of school.  The percentage of pupils that completes upper secondary education within the five-year period is for girls 64 % and for boys 75 %. A higher proportion of girls’ complete upper secondary education compared with boys. Boys are more likely than girls to referred special education (White Paper no. Nr.24 (2012-2013)). 

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