Use the String.equals(String otherString) function to compare strings, not the == operator.
This is because the == operator only compares object references, while
the String.equals() method compares both String‘s values i.e. the sequence of characters that make up each String.
equals() method from Source code of String:
public boolean equals(Object anObject) {
1013 if (this == anObject) {
1014 return true;
1015 }
1016 if (anObject instanceof String) {
1017 String anotherString = (String)anObject;
1018 int n = count;
1019 if (n == anotherString.count) {
1020 char v1[] = value;
1021 char v2[] = anotherString.value;
1022 int i = offset;
1023 int j = anotherString.offset;
1024 while (n-- != 0) {
1025 if (v1[i++] != v2[j++])
1026 return false;
1027 }
1028 return true;
1029 }
1030 }
1031 return false;
1032 }
So you should write
if(gender.equals("boy")){
}
or to comapre with regardless of case
if(gender.equalsIgnoreCase("boy")){
}
and for null safety
if("boy".equals(gender)){
}
Future reference:
String s1 = "Hello"; // String literal
String s2 = "Hello"; // String literal
String s3 = s1; // same reference
String s4 = new String("Hello"); // String object
String s5 = new String("Hello"); // String object
Here s1 == s2 == s3 but s4 != s5
Where as
anyOfAbove.equals(anyOtherOfAbove); //true