eng/295 Week 5 Moral and Ethical Development and Issues in Children’s Literature

GenderRoleStereotypinginChildrensLiterature_AnUpdatebyCarokM.KortenhausandJackDemarest.pdf

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Sex Rotes, Vol. 28, Nos. 314, 1993

Gender Role Stereotyping in Children's Literature: An Update^

Carole M. Kortenhaus- and Jack Demarest^ Monmouth College

The impact of gender role stereotyping in children's literature has been examined in numerous studies over the past fw'o decades. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the sex bias portrayed in picture books is still as prevalent as in the past. In particular, we were interested in whether the frequency of males and females in pictures and their characterizations had changed. One hundred and fifty children's picture books were analyzed for gender role content. It was found that white the frequency of males and females depicted in the stories had indeed become more evenly distributed over the past 50 years, the roles played by males and females have changed in a more subtle way. Girls are now being pictured in more instrumental activities, but are as passive dependent as 50 years ago. Boys are occasionally shown as passive dependent today, but are no less instrumental than 50 years ago. The findings suggest that increased effort is needed on the part of publishers and authors to provide children with literature that more closely parallels the roles of males and females in contemporary^ society.

Children in every culture learn to adopt certain roles and behaviors as part of the socialization process. Many of these behavioral roles are based on identification with a particular sex. The development of gender role identity is important to children's self-perception, and it influences the way children are treated by adults and peers, affecting the expectations that others have

'Preparation of this article was supported in part by a Faculty Grant from Monmouth College awarded to the second author

'Present address: TASS-AVRADA, Research and Development Activity, Fort Monmouth, NJ 07703-5401.

'To whom reprint requests should be addressed at Department of Psychology, Monmouth College, West Long Branch, NJ 07764.

219

0.16O-aO25W/02OO-O219M7.0O« C IW.I Plenum Puhlishinj Corporation

220 Kortenhaus and Demarest

for their behavior. The gender identity of most children is shaped by the universally shared beliefs about gender roles that are held by their society. These shared beliefs often take the form of oversimplified gender role stereotypes.

Every society contains sources of information designed to foster these traditions. In most cultures the most important and effective way of trans- mitting values and attitudes is through story telling, and in literate cultures this process includes children's books. A common experience for many pre- school children is listening to stories read from books, particularly illus- trated books (Davis, 1984). Preschoolers have story schema and they delight in having a favorite book read over and over again. Koeller (1988) sug- gested that young children are aided in practicing rational thinking as they mobilize, formulate, test, revise, and expand their view of the world through listening and discussing stories in books. In fact, books continue to have a major influence on the socialization process despite the dominant role of television in the day to day activities of most American children. Conver- sations with adolescent students showed that individuals whose parents had read to them during preschool years could still name the title of their fa- vorite children's book, had accurate memor\' of the stor>' content, and ex- pressed enjoyment in remembering it (Miles, 1980). Their recall of television programs did not seem to produce such a lasting impression. In fact, most children are better able to recall commercial messages than pro- gram content, possibly because TV viewing does not ask for the investment of self demanded by literature (Goldsen. 1977). Given this long-term in- fluence of books, there can be no doubt that the characters portrayed in children's literature mold a child's conception of socially accepted roles and values, and indicate how males and females are supposed to act.

In our society' the characteristics of competence, instrumentation, and achievement motivation are usually considered to be highly desirable traits, and they are typically associated with masculinity (Deaux, 1976). Females are perceived to be nurturant, dependent, and submissive, i.e., females ex- hibit traits that are viewed as less desirable (Dino, Barnett, & Howard, 1984; Spence & Helmreich, 1980). These stereotypes already exist in the portrayal of males and females in children's literature (Child, Potter, & Levine, 1946; Hillman, 1974; Jacklin & Mischel, 1973; Key, 1971; Kingston & Lovelace, 1977-1978; Purcell & Stewart, 1990; Tetenbaum & Pearson, 1989; Women on Words and Images, 1975), and they exist in the illustrated picture books we read to our preschoolers (Collins, Ingoldsby, & Dellman, 1984; Nilsen, 1971; Peterson & Lach, 1990; St. Peter, 1979; Stewig & Higgs, 1973; Weitzman, Eifler, Hokada, & Ross, 1972). In children's literature, males typically are portrayed as competent and achievement oriented, while the image of females is that they are limited in what they do, and less

Children's Literature 221

competent in their ability to accomplish things. Female characters are in- volved in few of the activities and assigned few of the characteristics or goals that are accorded prestige and esteem in our society (Frasher & Walker, 1972), even though such goals and activities are pursued and achieved daily by a majority of women in the business and professional world. McArthur and Eisen (1976) noted that girls must identify with the male figures in these stories if they are to acquire any sense of competence or achievement from the literary role models.

Key (1971), reviewing this literature through the 1960s, showed that males predominated in situations with active mastery themes (cleverness, adventure, and earning money), while females predominated in situations with "second-sex" themes (passivity, victimization, and goal constriction). There were also numerous examples of function ranking, such as the male portrayed as older, taller, in front of, or leaning over a seated female.

Weitzman, et al. (1972), reviewing children's books published during the 1940s, 1950s, and 196()s. found that females were greatly underrepre- sented in titles, central roles, and the illustrations in picture books. Most of the activity was done by males, and males were the focus of the story in the overwhelming majority of the cases. Surprisingly, the stories that were examined were taken from books that had won the Caldecott Medal. This annual prize is awarded by the Children's Service Committee of the American Library Association as a measure of excellence for the most dis- tinguished picture book of the year. Key (1971) concluded that the trend in children's books is based on the premise that, "boys do, girls are." In picture books, these genderisms are very likely a strong influence affecting children's perceptions of how males and females think, behave, and inter- act.

Recently, however, an assessment of Caldecott books from the 1970s (Collins et al., 1984) found that the books exhibited greater balance and sexual equality, with more females present in titles, central roles, and il- lustrations. It was suggested that the increased female representation was a possible reflection of women's changing roles in the 1980s. Other studies of current children's books do not share this conclusion, and indicate that most books are still sexist (Barnett, 1986; Kolbe & Lavole, 1981; Peterson & Lach, 1990; Schau & Scott, 1984), although a body of nonsexist children's literature has been identified (e.g., Davis. 1984; Feminist Book Mart, 1975; Feminists on Children's Media, 1974; Smith, Greenlaw, & Scott, 1987; Women's Action Alliance, 1973). Since Caldecott books are considered the best offerings in children's literature, one reason for this discrepancy might be that the award-winning books in the 1970s were selected, in part, for their nonsexist views, and as such they do not represent most other chil- dren's literature. Davis (1984), for example, found no indication of behav-

222 Kortenhaus and DemaresI

ioral sex typing in recent Caldecott winners for any category except aggres- siveness.

If this hypothesis is correct, one would expect to find a higher inci- dence of sexism in a random cross section of recent children's books than that found in Caldecott books. Furthermore, if Collins et al. (1984) are correct in assuming that the changing roles of women in our society have influenced how females are depicted in children's literature, one would ex- pect a dramatic change in sexism in all types of children's literature, but especially Caldecott books, over the past 50 years.

METHOD

Materials

For the purpose of comparison with the earlier studies of Weitzman et al. (1972) and Collins et al. (1984), 125 nonaward picture books and 25 Caldecott winners or runners-up published during the five decades between the 1940s and 1980s were used in this study. All books analyzed were ob- tained from public libraries in Freehold, Shrewsbury, and Wall, New Jersey, from a public library in Boston, Massachusetts, and from the education curriculum division of the Monmouth College Library in West Long Branch, New Jersey. Nonaward-winning books were randomly selected by counting off ever\' 25th book on the shelves of the children's department of each library until 25 books had been obtained for each of the five dec- ades. Selection of Caldecott winners was based on availability. Five award books were used for each decade.

Procedure

All books were analyzed in terms of depicted gender roles, and a content analysis was done on the types of activities represented by the male and female characters. It was noted whether these gender roles were clearly delineated or whether illustrations were ambiguous. For the frequency analysis, the procedure used by Collins et al. (1984) was replicated with the books tabulated according to eight characteristics: (1) Females in titles, (2) Males in titles, (3) Females in central roles, (4) Males in central roles, (5) Females in pictures, (6) Males in pictures, (7) Female animals, and (8) Male animals. In addition, the frequency count of females in pictures was combined with female animals pictured in each book to yield a total for females, and the same tabulation was done for male story characters. The

Children's Literature 223

number of males and females in all categories was broken down by decade of publication before being combined for a total frequency count.

A content analysis was also done on the major activities of the central characters in each book. In each case the analysis focused on the roles portrayed by children since adults were invariably secondary characters in these stories. Although a variety of settings were depicted, certain activities occurred repeatedly in the stories. Using only those activities that were clearly delineated, the 18 that were most prevalent were categorized as either instrumental independent (i.e., actions that involved a lot of self-in- itiated movement, decision making, and/or creativity) or passive dependent (i.e., actions that required little movement and/or more help from others). Nine activities were classified as instrumental independent and nine were classified as passive dependent. A frequency count was then done by decade to determine the number of central role males and central role females portrayed in these eighteen activities.

Reliability of the number of males and the number of females de- picted in titles, central roles, pictures, and animals was determined by com- paring the frequencies obtained by one of us on a sample of 25 books with tabulated frequencies on the same books from the second individual. These 25 books were randomly selected from the total and covered with brown paper so that the second coder was unaware of each book's Caldecott clas- sification and year of publication. Percentage of agreement between the two raters was based on total frequency counts in each category (i.e., total agreements divided by the total agreements plus disagreements). The re- sults revealed 100% agreement on the identification of males and females in both titles and central roles, 98.5% agreement on males and females in pictures, and 98.3% agreement on male and female animals. The total agreements of the two raters across all categories were analyzed using a correlation coefficient, revealing a highly significant agreement between the ratings (r = 0.992).

Reliability of the types of activities that the male and female story characters were involved in was assessed by counting the number of times the raters agreed in identifying an activity exhibited by the central charac- ter. The results revealed 65% agreement on the identification of specific activities exhibited by the central character in each picture book, and 96% agreement on the identification of the general category of activity (i.e., in- strumental independent or passive dependent). The reason for the low re- liability in the identification of specific activities is due to the large number of things that the characters could do. and the fact that each of us listed from one to four main activities per character. We identified 66 activities exhibited by 27 main characters (2 of the books had both a boy and a girl as the central character), and agreed on 43 of these activities. We rarely

224 Kortenhaus and Demarest

disagreed about the type of activity (instrumental vs. passive) that was ex- hibited, except where the activity involved helping behaviors. This was not unexpected since many previous studies (e,g,, Barnett, 1986; Dino, Barnett, & Howard, 1984) found it difficult to determine how to classify acts of helpfulness. The study by Bamett (1986), for instance, showed that there are subtle differences in the ways in which helping behaviors of boys and girls are portrayed and interpreted, with the helping acts of girls receiving significantly lower ratings of instrumentality.

RESULTS

The contents of the books were examined in terms of raw score tabu- lations and a male to female ratio in five categories: (1) Titles, (2) Central roles, (3) Pictures, (4) Animals, and (5) Animals and People. The chi- square comparisons were based on a 2 x 2 matrix with type of book (Cal- decott and nonaward) and sex of the storybook character as the two factors. For each of the five categories a chi-square was computed (see columns labeled Comparison in Table I), None of the calculated chi-square values were found to be significant, indicating that the male to female ratios in Caldecott and nonaward-winning books were fundamentally the same, Chi- square tests were also calculated separately on the ratio of male to female characters for each type of book to determine if males were overrepre- sented in comparison to females (see fourth and eighth column in Table I), We found significantly more male characters than female characters in every category, with the exception of titles and central role figures of Cal- decott winning books. Even in these two categories, however, males out- numbered females 2:1,

For comparison, the content analysis ratios from the Weitzman et al. (1972) and Collins et al. (1984) studies are provided in conjunction with the ratios from the current study (see Table II), The data reveal a distinct discrepancy in the findings of the Weitzman et al, (1972) study.

To examine the change in the male to female ratio in children's books over the past five decades, the tabulated data for each book were grouped by decade of publication. Only nonaward books were used for this analysis to avoid the problem of sampling error (there were only five Caldecott books available for each decade), and because the mean male to female ratio for the Caldecott and nonaward books was fundamentally the same (see Table II), The data for each of the four main categories (i,e,. Titles, Central Roles, Pictures, Animals) are shown in Fig, 1. Four two-factor re- peated measures analyses of variance revealed significant sex differences for all categories except titles, and either a significant decade effect or a

Children's Literature 225

Table I. Chi-Squared Analysis of Sex Bias in Caldecott and Nonaward Books"

Category

Titles

Central roles

Pictures

Animals

Source

Decade (D) Sex (S) D X S Error

Decade Sex D X S Error

4 1 4

240

4 1 4

240

4 1 4

240

4 I 4

240

59.63 28.84 57.76

8.90

0.31 14.89

M l 0.44

1560.48 6258.38

887.01 547.54

7.36.51 3549.16

329.30 118.03

6.70 3.24 6.49

0.70 33.83

2.53

2.85 11.43 1.62

6.24 30.07

2.79

.0001

.07

.0001

.59

.0001

.04

.02

.0008

.17

.0001

.03

or nurturing (M = 4; F = 112). Even when females were depicted as active, there was usually a more independent male character. For example, in the book Down, Down the Mountain, after planting a turnip garden to earn money for shoes, a girl and a boy rode a horse to town to sell turnips. Using the categories of Table V, the girl might be described as showing instrumental independent action along with her brother: however, the in- strumental equality is superficial. The behaviors the children exhibit in pur- suing their goal are clearly colored by gender role stereotyping. In planting the garden, the boy did the hoeing while his sister placed the seeds. On their trip to town, he held the reins and controlled the horse while she rode behind and held on to him. Finally, when they arrived in town without any turnips to sell, the girl began crying while her brother set out to resolve the situation. As noted by Jacklin and Mischel (1973), there are ways other than frequency counts for sexism to reveal itself. It occurs in the presence of disparaging statements, character traits or physical attributes, such as young girls being valued for their beauty while older women are often deni- grated as hags and witches or are stereotyped in limiting domestic roles. A study Freid (1982), which analyzed 299 children's stories from 1974 and 1981, drew the disturbing conclusion that girls were portrayed with docile and inferior qualities more often in the 1981 literature than in 1974.

22S Kortenhaus and Demarest

Table rv. Number and Ratio of Male to Female Characters Portrayed in Caldecoti and Nonaward Children's Literature Before and After 1970

Category'

Titles Central role Pictures Animals Aniamis and people

Categorj'

Titles Central role Pictures Animals Aniamis and people

8 18

631 233 864

45 82

2399 1094 3493

Pre-1970

2 7

386 63

449

Pre-197()

13 31

1321 301

1622

Caldecott

Ratio

4.0:1 2.6:1 1.6:1 3.7:1 1 9:1

Nonaward

Ratio

3.5: 2.6: 1.8: 3.6: 2 1:

books

6 7

253 65

318

books

26 49

1423 321

1744

Post-1970

5 6

228 31

259

Post-1970

18 40

1293 172

1435

Ratio

1.2: 1.2: 1.1: 2.1: 1.2:

Ratio

1 4:1 1.2:1 1.1:1 1.9:1 ! 2:1

Starting in the 1960s and continuing into the 1980s, females were oc- casionally pictured in a more active manner, but males still outnumbered females in agentic behavior by a ratio of 3:1 (M = 176; F = 49) while females outnumbered males in passive behavior by 4.6 to 1 (F = 137; M = 25). Sometimes the gender role stereotyping was blatant. In No, Agatha, a 1980 publication, it is obvious that Agatha wanted to be more active and independent but her parents continually suppressed her desires by telling her to "act like a lady."

CONCLUSION

Children's literature has been under close scrutiny for the past two decades to determine whether measurable ground has been gained in dis- pelling the inequalities represented by gender role stereotyping in books for children. Have there been significant changes, or is the rhetoric out- pacing the actual progress? The answer turns out to depend on the way the data are analyzed.

The findings of the present study are consistent with those reported by Collins et al. (1984). Comparisons of all chosen items confirmed the

Children's Literature 229

Table V. Frequency Count by Decade and Sex of Central Role Characters Portrayed in Active and Passive Activities

Activity

Playing ball Riding bike or horse Climbing Running Swimming/fishing Helping others Making something Solving a problem Active outdoor play

Totals Ratios (males to females)

Activity

Playing house Picking flowers Housework helping Caring for sibling Caring for pet Watching others play Needing help Causing a problem Ouiet indoor play

Totals Ratios (females to males)

1940s

9 3 2 3 3 8 5 9

— 2

— — — 1

— 1

—

4 (13.5:1)

1940s

— — -— — 1

— — — —

4 -> 8 4 1

10 8 ")

50 (-50:1)

Instrumental-independent activities

1950s

3 5 6 8 7 7 3

10 14

63 (6.-

— — — — — — 1

— —

I 1:1)

1960s

6 5 2 5 2 8 5

12 10

55 (6.1

1 — 1

— — 2 2 1 2

9 1:1)

Passive-dependent

1950s

— — — —

— 1

— —

8 3 7 6

— 15 6 5

62 (20.6:1)

1960s

—

— — — 2 2 1

— 1

3 3 4 7 3 8 9 3

50 (8.3:1)

1970s

8 6 5 5 6 9 7 8

68 (3.4:

activities

3 1 2 1 2 2 3 1 5

20 1)

1970s

— — 2

— 1 2 2 3

10 (4.3

2 1 2 5 2

11 6 4

43 :1)

1980s

M F

7 2 4 1 3 2 4 2 1 3

10 4 4 I

11 2 9 3

53 20 (2.65:1)

1980s

M F

— 1 2 2

2 4 1 4 3 14

^ 1 3 2 9

9 44 (4.8:1)

trend of decreasing sexism in children's picture books. In fact, the equity ratio of characterizations of males and females has come to be quite closely balanced. The results are not only consistent with the Collins et al. study but replicated some of the exact ratios. Thus, the steps taken by publishers and authors to reduce gender role stereotyping by increasing the number of female characters in children's literature has already occurred. Interest- ingly, this change began well before the women's movement in the 196O's, suggesting that something other than a feminist perspective motivated the change.

239 Kortenhaus and Demareit

The analysis of the type of roles in which male and female story char- acters were portrayed, however, reveals a quite different conclusion about sexism in children's literature. Boys were characterized far more often as instrumental and independent, while girls were made to look passive and dependent. Girls were cast in a nurturing role far more often than boys. For example, female characters helped, watched over, or cared for a sibling or pet far more frequently than boy characters (F = 117; M = 16). The activities of males and females were so extremely disparate in children's literature examined from the 1940s through the 1960s that this topic re- quires special comment. In stories that pictured boys and girls together, only boys assumed the role of dominance and authority, while the girls were cast as helpless, incompetent, and unambitious. Even stories with a female in the central role tended to show her needing help to solve a prob- lem. Invariably the help was provided by an older male. The things girls do and say in these books reflect the stereotype that "all girls are emo- tional." Mothers are shown as ineffectual and appear overwhelmed by problems, always needing to rely on fathers or sons to solve their dilemmas. Fathers, on the other hand, are portrayed in a capable, take-charge manner, seldom consulting the mother about any decision.

While it is encouraging to note that the instrumental role of females in children's literature has increased twofold between the 1960s and 1980s, even this progress seems inconsequential when taken in the context of over- all male activity. In the last two decades, boys were still shown engaging in active outdoor play three times as often as girls, and they solved prob- lems five to eight times as often. Girls, it would seem, are still busy creating problems that require masculine solutions. These characterizations provide children with a strong message as to the gender appropriateness of active and passive roles.

The increased female representation in titles, central roles, and pic- tures would appear to indicate that authors of the 1980s are more aware and sensitive to women's changing roles; however, the way in which these females are pictured is still sexist and biased. The late 1960s and early 1970s was a period of time marked by considerable national attention to the women's movement with emphasis on the need to overcome gender discrimination. Studies of children's literature from that period pointed to a hopeful trend of more equitable representation and a possible decrease in gender role stereotyping (Hillman, 1974; Feminists on Children's Media, 1974). Later studies, however, seemed to indicate that while representation had indeed moved closer to parity, the trend of decreased gender role stereotyping in character portrayal and activity had slowed down (Dougherty & Engel, 1987; Freid, 1982; Williams, 1987), Indeed, of the 60 books examined that were published between 1970 and 1986, only 1 por-

Children's Literature 231

trayed a working mother. Why are there so few working mothers repre- sented in children's literature? If children's literature represents a tool in the socialization process of our young, it would appear that we are teaching our young that women are not supposed to have jobs outside the home. Given the fact that 60% of mothers with children under 14 are currently employed (Wallis, 1987), we must conclude that children's books do not adequately reflect the changing role of women in the workplace of Ameri- can society in the 1980s.

The most striking characteristic of this study is the finding that even after two decades of intense examination and analysis by more than a dozen studies, the roles portrayed in children's literature do not present an ac- curate representation or close approximation of the actual behavior of males and females in our society. The representation of males and females in a variety of roles is needed, and girls and women, in particular, must be shown to a greater degree in roles that are active and productive, rather than the dull, unimaginative portrayals that have been painted in the past. We may also expect that a change of this sort can occur fairly rapidly. The number of females in the central roles of children's books has changed quickly in recent years, and we might anticipate that greater sensitivity to the need for changes in the roles played by the boys, girls, men, and women of this literature can occur just as rapidly. In view of the fact that gender role bias can have far-reaching effects on the development of children's perception of themselves, it would seem that publishers and authors must still make a concerted effort to provide their young readers with books that are a more realistic reflection of today's changing gender role patterns.

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