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Mounting
Gerbils mount one another for a few reasons. Gender does play a role into why they do this.
Males might mount other males because they are showing dominance over each other, or they are sexually excited. Usually there is one dominant male who mounts the other(s). Do keep an eye on this behavior; there should be no squeaking involved. If your gerbils are squeaking, you should pay close attention to the pair and monitor them to make sure there are no other signs of aggression.
Females in heat are typically submissive. If you have a pair of girls, you may notice your females mounting each other. This is actually very common. You should be able to tell which female is in heat, and she should display signs of being in heat. Including running up to her cage mate, and sharply turning around and posturing. The girls could also both be in heat at the same time, and they may seemingly take turns. However, there are occasions when the dominant female will mount another female who is not in heat. Again, this is a dominance behavior, and I would monitor the pair to make sure the aggression is not building.
When females and males are housed together they will mate, which does involve mounting the female. Sometime the male will mount the female when she is not in heat, which might mean that your male gets boxed, pushed, or just squeaked at.
There is also another form of “mounting” where one gerbil may approach another gerbil and literally slide their bellies over the other gerbil effectively scent marking them. These are less common, and I’ve mainly only seen this happen where pups are being marked.
If you have two gerbils and they’re mounting each other it could be one of two things. First it could be them mating, and second one could be displaying dominance over the other gerbil. It is not uncommon for two gerbils of the same sex to be caught mounting each other in a display of dominance.