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

Abstract

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.

Children perceive illusory faces in objects as male more often than female

“…Even though the children in our study are growing up in a different time and experiencing a different societal context than present-day adults, they still have a bias to see illusory faces as male. This is consistent with the overrepresentation of male protagonists in children's books, which persists even though the proportion of female protagonists has increased over the last 60 years 47 . The generalizability of our results to other cultures remains to be investigated.…”

Factors Influencing Children’s Perception of Gender Roles and Their Psychological Impact: Evidence From Sociology and Psychology

“…Despite changes toward equal representation of gender in the last six decades, children's picture books released between 1960 and 2020 continue to feature the long-standing dominance of male characters (Casey et al, 2021). Although it is evident that male characters outnumber female characters, the ratio between them varies across studies, ranging from 2:1 to 4:1 depending on the sample, authors' gender, role types (main versus title characters), age groups (children versus adults), genres (fiction versus non-fiction), targeted audience (older versus younger children), and character types (human versus non-human) (Hamilton et al, 2006;Chamberlain, 2011;Casey et al, 2021). Unlike female writers who generally depict an equal distribution of gender, male authors' books feature significantly more male characters and protagonists than female ones (Hamilton et al, 2006;Casey et al, 2021).…”

“…Although it is evident that male characters outnumber female characters, the ratio between them varies across studies, ranging from 2:1 to 4:1 depending on the sample, authors' gender, role types (main versus title characters), age groups (children versus adults), genres (fiction versus non-fiction), targeted audience (older versus younger children), and character types (human versus non-human) (Hamilton et al, 2006;Chamberlain, 2011;Casey et al, 2021). Unlike female writers who generally depict an equal distribution of gender, male authors' books feature significantly more male characters and protagonists than female ones (Hamilton et al, 2006;Casey et al, 2021). Fictional literature, literature with human protagonists, and stories aimed at older children have a more proportionate ratio of female and male characters than non-fictional literature, literature with non-human protagonists, and stories targeted at younger audiences (Casey et al, 2021).…”

“…Unlike female writers who generally depict an equal distribution of gender, male authors' books feature significantly more male characters and protagonists than female ones (Hamilton et al, 2006;Casey et al, 2021). Fictional literature, literature with human protagonists, and stories aimed at older children have a more proportionate ratio of female and male characters than non-fictional literature, literature with non-human protagonists, and stories targeted at younger audiences (Casey et al, 2021).…”

Çocuk Romanlarında Atılganlık Becerileri: Toplumsal Cinsiyet Bağlamında Bir Çözümleme

“…In this sense, it is possible to talk about a research tradition that continues from the 1970s to the present, with the gender perspective circulating in many fields of social sciences. For example, in national and international literature, heroes and heroines in children's literature (Béreaud, 1975;Filipović, 2018;Sever & Aslan, 2011), characters in plots (Casey et al, 2021;Hamilton et al, 2006;McDonald, 1989;Salman Erden, 2019), characters in visuals (Poarch & Monk Turner, 2011;Tognoli et al, 1994;Turner Bowker, 1996) was examined in terms of gender, and it was found that there was an inequality in representation in favor of males. In addition, the actions and behaviors of the characters in children's books (Heintz, 1987;Hillman, 1974;Weitzman et al, 1972), the games they played (Kapkıner, 2019;Oğus Rollas, 2017;Yener, 2020), their relationships with space (Göl, 2011;Kahraman & Özdemir, 2019;Tognoli et al, 1994), their roles and responsibilities (Aslan, 2010;Roper & Clifton, 2013;Şimşek, 2019), and their occupations (Çatalcalı Soyer, 2009;Engel, 1981;Heintz, 1987;Kahraman & Özdemir, 2017;Kapkıner, 2019;Kolbe & Voie, 1981;McDonald, 1989;Salman Erden, 2019) were analyzed in the context of gender.…”