“Is This a Boy or a Girl?”: Rethinking Sex-Role Representation in Caldecott Medal-Winning Picturebooks, 1938–2011

Gender representations in children's media and their influence

“…Some studies have also added the additional layer of the ways in which women and men are portrayed in the books (e.g. Weitzman et al, 1972;Kortenhaus and Demarest, 1993;Anderson and Hamilton, 2005;Hamilton et al, 2006;Holub et al, 2008;Crisp and Hiller, 2011).…”

Exploring Racial Diversity in Caldecott Medal-Winning and Honor Books

“…Detailed studies have included examinations of the depiction of fatherhood, civil rights, gender, and environmental conservation (Crisp & Hiller, 2011;Sasser, 2014;Sills-Briegel & Camp, 2001;Williams, Podeschi, Palmer, Schwadel, & Meyler, 2012). Still others have used the Caldecott collection as just a small piece in a much larger puzzle of examining racism in the United States (Pescosolido, Grauerholz & Milkie, 1997;Williams, & Deyoe, 2014).…”

“…Researchers felt examination of picture books, a media with which children regularly interact, would be meaningful because of its "widespread availability in the United States, its use as an instructional tool, and its enduring 'shelf-life'" (Quinn, 2006, 74). Selection of Caldecott winners as the examined body of literature was often cited as a particularly useful choice because of the stipulation that they be illustrated by a U.S. citizen and published by an American publisher (Crisp & Hiller, 2011;Quinn, 2006;Williams et al, 2012). Conversely, it was also acknowledged that these criteria did not necessarily hold that the books were popular with children, but in order to create a predictable subset for exploration, each reviewing team had to make a decision and choose a body of work (Quinn, 2006).…”

“…To keep their research consistent with similar researchers, they only looked at the medal winners, of which there were 74. The research team actively negotiated their coding determinations throughout the process so the coding of gender was dynamic to the end (Crisp & Hiller, 2011).…”

“…There was also much "chicken or egg" contemplation among researchers as to whether society was mirrored in picture books or if picture books set the pace for society (Quinn, 2006). However, researchers of gender depiction noticed marked spikes in female winners during the 1960s "famous for the Civil Rights and women's liberation movements" and a tapering off through the seventies, only to conclude the most recent decade with the highest male to female ratio yet and Quinn and others found that fatherhood depictions fluctuated concurrent with other media (Crisp & Hiller, 2011;Quinn, 2006).…”