Gender Development

Abstract The notion of gender encompasses several dimensions and several aspects of a person’s identity and life. The ‘genderbread’ infographic is used sometimes to make the various dimensions and meanings of gender understandable and approachable. This chapter considers the main theories of gender development. It is nowadays usually accepted that gender identity depends on both biological and social factors, but what these might be and how they might interact to enable the elaboration of gender are open questions. This chapter reviews the research in this area and discusses whether the existing understanding of gender identity development can tell us something about the clinical management of gender diverse children and adolescents.