scholarly journals Sixty years of gender representation in children’s books: Conditions associated with overrepresentation of male versus female protagonists

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. e0260566
Author(s):  
Kennedy Casey ◽  
Kylee Novick ◽  
Stella F. Lourenco
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Gender Equity ◽  
Relative Proportion ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Gender Disparity ◽  
Gender Representation ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Children’S Books ◽  
Female Ratio ◽  
Female Protagonists

As a reflection of prominent cultural norms, children’s literature plays an integral role in the acquisition and development of societal attitudes. Previous reports of male overrepresentation in books targeted towards children are consistent with a history of gender disparity across media and society. However, it is unknown whether such bias has been attenuated in recent years with increasing emphasis on gender equity and greater accessibility of books. Here, we provide an up-to-date estimate of the relative proportion of males and females featured as single protagonists in 3,280 children’s books (0–16 years) published between 1960–2020. We find that although the proportion of female protagonists has increased over this 60-year period, male protagonists remain overrepresented even in recent years. Importantly, we also find persistent effects related to author gender, age of the target audience, character type (human vs. non-human), and book genre (fiction vs. non-fiction) on the male-to-female ratio of protagonists. We suggest that this comprehensive account of the factors influencing the rates of appearance of male and female protagonists can be leveraged to develop specific recommendations for promoting more equitable gender representation in children’s literature, with important consequences for child development and society.

scholarly journals Sixty Years of Gender Representation in Children’s Books: Conditions Associated with Male vs. Female Overrepresentation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kennedy Casey ◽  
Kylee Novick ◽  
Stella F. Lourenco
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Relative Proportion ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Gender Disparity ◽  
Gender Representation ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Children’S Books ◽  
Female Ratio ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Female Protagonists

As a reflection of prominent cultural norms, children’s literature plays an integral role in the acquisition and development of societal attitudes. Previous reports of male overrepresentation in books targeted towards children are consistent with a history of gender disparity across media and society. However, it is unknown whether such bias has been attenuated in recent years with increasing emphasis on gender equity and greater accessibility of books. Here, we provide an up-to-date estimate of the relative proportion of male and female protagonists in 3,288 children’s books (0-16 years) published between 1960-2020. We find that although the proportion of female protagonists has increased over this 60-year period, male protagonists remain overrepresented even in recent years. Importantly, we also find stable effects related to author gender, age of the target audience, book genre (fiction vs. non-fiction), and character type (human vs. non-human) on the male-to-female ratio of protagonists. We suggest that this comprehensive account of the factors influencing the rates of appearance of male and female protagonists can be leveraged to develop specific recommendations for promoting more equitable gender representation in children’s literature, with important consequences for child development and society.

scholarly journals Gender-Labeling of Children’s Books and Reading Preferences as Represented through the KidLitosphere

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 4-21
Author(s):  
Emily Seitz
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Children’S Books ◽  
Female Protagonists ◽  
Books And Reading

This article discusses a qualitative study conducted as part of a dissertation on gendered literacy. The findings are based on sampling and analysis of data drawn from 23 blogs that are part of the KidLitosphere, a website aggregating blogs dealing with children’s literature. It discusses the primary findings relating to the genderlabeling of children’s books, including 1) bloggers’ and commenters’ direct labeling of books as “girl”‐ and “boy”‐preferred; 2) educators’ expectations of boys’ reading preferences; 3) bloggers’ and commenters’ consistently mentioning certain books and/or series, coded “iconic boy books,” in reference to boys’ reading; and, 4) educators’ expectation that boys prefer male protagonists and girls prefer female protagonists. It also discusses resistance to these themes in the form of 1) bloggers’ and commenters’ speaking directly against the labeling of books as “girl”‐ and “boy”‐preferred; 2) bloggers’ and commenters’ expressing the belief that a child’s sex should not influence the child’s reading preferences; and, 3) educators’ not expecting girls to prefer what are perceived to be “girl”‐preferred texts, or boys to prefer “boy”‐preferred texts.

The Adult as Foe or Friend?: Childism in Guus Kuijer's Criticism and Fiction

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Joosen
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Children’S Books ◽  
Memorial Award ◽  
Adult Reader ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Selection Of

Compared to the attention that children's literature scholars have paid to the construction of childhood in children's literature and the role of adults as authors, mediators and readers of children's books, few researchers have made a systematic study of adults as characters in children's books. This article analyses the construction of adulthood in a selection of texts by the Dutch author and Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award winner Guus Kuijer and connects them with Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's recent concept of ‘childism’ – a form of prejudice targeted against children. Whereas Kuijer published a severe critique of adulthood in Het geminachte kind [The despised child] (1980), in his literary works he explores a variety of positions that adults can take towards children, with varying degrees of childist features. Such a systematic and comparative analysis of the way grown-ups are characterised in children's texts helps to shed light on a didactic potential that materialises in different adult subject positions. After all, not only literary and artistic aspects of children's literature may be aimed at the adult reader (as well as the child), but also the didactic aspect of children's books can cross over between different age groups.

A content analysis of gender representation in Malaysian children's literature

2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
Ramesh Nair
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Children's Literature ◽  
English Language ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Children’S Books ◽  
Minor Characters ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Mental Schemas ◽  
Selection Of

Children's literature serves as a powerful medium through which children construct messages about their roles In society and gender Identity is often central to this construction. Although possessing mental schemas about gender differences is helpful when children organize their ideas of the world around them, problems occur when children are exposed to a constant barrage of uncompromising, gender-schematic sources that lead to stereotyping which in turn represses the full development of the child. This paper focuses on how gender is represented in a selection of Malaysian children's books published in the English language. Relying on the type of content analysis employed by previous feminist social science researchers, I explore this selection of Malaysian children's books for young children and highlight some areas of concern with regard to the construction of maleness and femaleness in these texts. The results reveal Imbalances at various levels Including the distribution of main, supporting and minor characters along gendered lines and the positioning of male and female characters In the visual Illustrations. The stereotyping of these characters In terms of their behavioural traits will be discussed with the aim of drawing attention to the need for us to take concerted measures to provide our children with books that will help them realize their potential to the fullest.

scholarly journals Till ”vildingarnas” land: Barnboksförfattaren besöker förorten

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maj Asplund Carlsson ◽  
Johannes Lunneblad
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Drug Abuse ◽  
Small Business ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Picture Books ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Children’S Books ◽  
Post Colonial

Title: Where “the wild things” are: An author of children’s books on a visit to the suburbsAbstract:Few studies have been carried out on children’s literature from a post-colonial perspective. In this article, we look closer at four picture books recently published in Sweden with the purpose of giving children from urban areas patterns of identification. The aim of our study is to see how the ‘suburb’ is articulated as a multi-accented sign. Three themes are elaborated in our analysis, i.e. loneliness and alienation, drug abuse and misery as well as small business occurrence. We also discuss the consequences for children in early years of an encounter with a distorted or alienated view of suburban culture.

scholarly journals Children's book in Siberia: a historiographic review

Bibliosphere ◽  
2017 ◽  
pp. 35-40
Author(s):  
E. V. Engalycheva
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Book Publishing ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Design Activity ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Children’S Books ◽  
Children's Book ◽  
History Of ◽  
Childhood Reading

The article is devoted to the history of Siberian regional children's book publishing. The author has collected theoretic-practical opinions of historians, bibliologists, publishers and booksellers, librarians and bibliographers, psychologists and sociologists, which purpose is to generalize and reveal regularities of books' flow for children. V. G. Belinsky, L. N. Tolstoy, F. G. Tol’, N. V. Chekhov developed the first concepts of children's book. N. K. Krupskaya, V. A. Sukhomlinsky studied the «core» of the children book repertoire. V. G. Sopikov, B. S. Bondarsky reviewed children's literature of the 19th century in their bibliographic works. The author allocated some organizational components using formal-logical, comparative-historical and structural-typological methods. The first block is related to studying such definitions as «children's book», «children's literature», «editions for children», «a circle of childhood reading», «the repertoire of children's books», their typological signs. The presented concepts are investigated according to tasks, which children's editions solve. S. G. Antonova and S. A. Karaichentseva touched issues of children's literature typology in their publications. The second block of literature reveals the children's book development in Russia in various periods of its formation. I. E. Barenbaum, A. A. Grechikhin, A. A. Belovitskaya studied general fundamentals of the book's history, while A. Ivich, L. Kohn, I. Lupanova considered the history of children’s books. The third block is devoted to printing and art features of the children's book design, activity of universal and specialized publishing houses to distribute literature for children. The fourth block explains such category as «reader - library», considers techniques of work with children's book, offers methodical recommendations for teachers and tutors. Readers’ activity is examined as well. The author analyzes interests, factors, incentives and aims influencing childhood reading. Dissertation researches disclose the regional specifics of children's book publishing in 1980-2013, confirm the considered subject relevance. The historical, comparative, formal and logical analysis carried out by the author will be useful both the specialists in publishing and editorial affairs, researchers studying the history and development of the children's book, historians, and teachers in the educational process of such courses as «Publishing and Editing», «Children's Literature», «Book Science». The author concludes that the children's book has been studied in different periods of its development in the context of numerous aspects, directions and components, which makes it possible to reveal the special patterns of its existence.

scholarly journals Children’s Literature and Translation Under the East German Regime

2003 ◽  
Vol 48 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 241-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriele Thomson-Wohlgemuth
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Children's Literature ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Children’S Books ◽  
The Status ◽  
East German ◽  
The Cold War

Abstract This paper describes the status of translation and publication of East German children’s literature during the period of the Cold War. It briefly gives an indication of the high value placed on translation and translators in the socialist regime. Finally it focuses on the main criteria influencing the translation and publication of children’s books with the economic and ideological factors being the most significant and gives brief examples from the East German censorship files.

scholarly journals M.E.R. – 'Reg op ereplek' as kinderboekskrywer

Literator ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 43-82
Author(s):  
G. Wybenga
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Children’S Books ◽  
Literary Context ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right

M.E.R. – 'The right to a place of honour' as the author of children’s books A recognition of M.E.R.’s writing developed late in her career. One of the reasons for this was most probably that she was almost exclusively involved in writing for children in the 1920s and early 1930s. Her many publications for children included not only “Kinders van die Voortrek” and the well-known “Karlien en Kandas”, but many more. It was only in the late 1940s after she had published books for adults that she received recognition for her work – which did not happen in the case of her earlier children’s books. Although she is at present regarded as a pioneer of children’s literature, these books have still not been accepted as part of the canon. This article attempts to indicate why she is considered a pioneer by situating her work in the literary context of the time. By analysing the individual books for children as texts in their own right, the article demonstates that dichotomising her work into literature for children and literature for adults is not justified. From the onset till the end of her career M.E.R.’s publications form one continuous oeuvre. The same trends observable in her early work for children are present in the later work for adults.

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