There is a longstanding tradition in the Netherlands to announce the birth of a child by sending out birth announcement cards to friends and family. These cards provide a glimpse of the ‘zeitgeist’ over the years regarding gender through the way in which the birth of a son or a daughter is announced. The current study examined the gender-typed content of birth announcement cards from 1940 until 2019. To this end, 4669 birth announcement cards were coded based on the following categories: gender of baby, use of color, different types of images, and different types of text. Logistic regression analyses revealed that boy cards were more likely than girl cards to include blue as the dominant color, masculine descriptions of the baby, and parental expressions of pride. Girl cards were more likely than boy cards to include pink as the dominant color and images of flowers. Over time there was a decrease in the inclusion of masculine descriptions on boy cards, as well as the likelihood that fathers were mentioned before mothers. However, the expression of pride on boy cards increased over time. Overall, the amount of gender-typed content in birth announcement cards was minimal. Birth announcement cards which included gender-typed content tended to reflect gender stereotypes and different expressions for boys and girls in subtle ways that continue to reinforce gender stereotypes.

在荷兰，通过向朋友和家人发送出生公告卡来宣布孩子出生的传统由来已久。这些卡片通过宣布儿子或女儿的出生方式，让我们得以一瞥多年来关于性别的“时代精神”。本研究调查了 1940 年至 2019 年出生公告卡的性别类型内容。为此，根据以下类别对 4669 张出生公告卡进行了编码：婴儿性别、颜色使用、不同类型的图像和不同类型的文本。Logistic 回归分析显示，男孩卡片比女孩卡片更有可能包含蓝色作为主色、对婴儿的男性化描述以及父母的骄傲表达。女孩卡比男孩卡更可能包含粉红色作为主色和花朵图像。随着时间的推移，男孩卡片上包含男性化描述的内容以及父亲在母亲之前被提及的可能性有所减少。然而，随着时间的推移，男孩卡上的骄傲表达增加了。总体而言，出生公告卡中的性别类型内容很少。包含性别类型内容的出生公告卡往往以微妙的方式反映性别刻板印象和男孩和女孩的不同表达方式，继续强化性别刻板印象。随着时间的推移，男孩卡片上的骄傲表达增加了。总体而言，出生公告卡中的性别类型内容很少。包含性别类型内容的出生公告卡倾向于以微妙的方式反映性别陈规定型观念和男孩和女孩的不同表达方式，继续强化性别陈规定型观念。随着时间的推移，男孩卡片上的骄傲表达增加了。总体而言，出生公告卡中的性别类型内容很少。包含性别类型内容的出生公告卡往往以微妙的方式反映性别刻板印象和男孩和女孩的不同表达方式，继续强化性别刻板印象。