In the article posted by The New York Times and written by Jenny Nordberg Afghan girls will cut their hair and wear boy clothes in order to receive the same treatment and benefits of the boys. Families will disguise their girls as boys so that they can gain economic success and because boys are more "valued". The child is usually disguised until puberty. After this the child sometimes can become confused at what "gender" they are.. the "girls" may not feel like girls anymore because they were raised to be a "boy" in society.
The children may have become confused because they were acting out a different gender then what they were told they were when they were born. Gender is also influenced by the environment, if the children are growing up in an environment where males are valued over females. Children would have learned that in order to have any type of respect of the community they need to be "males".
Photo by Adam Ferguson for The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/world/asia/21gender.html?_r=1
