Gender Roles in Children’s Literature

Everything we read constructs us, makes us who we argon, by reconcileing our image of ourselves as girls and women, as boys and men M. flurry It is a well known fact that childrens literature holds an important authority in the development of teen children. It has the power to teach, offer meaning and act purpose all while being entertaining. Childrens literature is a widely available resource that offers children a plentitude of insightful cultivation. Within the pages childrens books lies an immense resource of tools that aid in the development of character for children, and conveys. sex activity is an important aspect of development and is a commonly explored theme in childrens literature. Children turn a profit information from many sources much(prenominal) as teachers, family and friends, but they also gain it from literature. Like in all(prenominal) culture the roles of sex activity in America be an important part of its culture. Gender Identity is a crucial part of a childs development because it helps children to date stamp themselves in relation to others. A child develops their sense of sexual activity at a very early age, for most children sex identity begins to develop between 18 and 30 months.After a child has developed their sense of gender they begin to realize that gender is stabile girls grow up to run low woman and boys grow up to become men. By the term a child is the age of four or five they keep back come to prefer participating and playing in activities that atomic number 18 defined by companionship as gender appropriate. It is during childhood that children begin to fall victim of stereotypical behaviors. For example girls refusing to play with trucks or wear chuff because it is not considered feminine by golf club. Lawrence Kohlberg an American Psychologist let outlines the stages of gender development.Kohlberg outlines gender development in three stages. The first being Gender labeling, in this stage children p oint others as male or female based on physical appearance. The second stage is when children begin to recognize that gender is stable over time gender stability. And the third stage is gender consistency children understand that gender is permanent. But what influences children to know whats appropriate for their gender? The answer may be found in a opening known as Gender Schema. The Gender Schema is a psychological theory that explains how children develop their gender roles.This theory suggests that children learn about male and females roles from the society in which they live in. This theory also suggests that children adjust their gender behaviors to conform to the gender expectations of their culture. Children acquire cultural information about their gender roles from a variety of sources p bents, teachers, family, media and literature. Through literature children are exposed to characters that outline the expect behaviors for each gender. Children take the information give n to them and because try to conform themselves to what is expected of them.Because of this children are unable to know their full potential, forcing them to abide within their given roles. Since the beginning of time gender has defined ones role in society. Like class, race and ethnicity, gender shapes just about every part of our lives. (Macions pg 90). Society places roles and expectations for each gender that are played in out in every aspect of life home, school, work, playgrounds and literature. As children develop they are subjected to messages from society, which helps them to gain understanding of the world around them and molds them into their given roles.The way, in which gender roles are portrayed in childrens literature, significantly contributes to the development of childrens gender roles and how they are perceived by society. It is important to teach children about gender roles since it is something that society holds in regards, but most of the time in literature it is done unequally. The portrayal of gender in literature is based off of the expectations of society and places twist on gender. Boys are portrayed as strong, adventurous, independent and capable and often play the roles of fighters, adventurers and rescuers.Girls are portrayed as sweet, naive, dependent, sensitive and emotional and play roles such as caretakers, princesses and mothers. The roles of gender portrayed in literature are often a reflection of the views of society and do not offer objective insight. indeed far though it is important to teach children about gender roles, the fashion in which it is done in does not allow children to see beyond those expectations. If a young girl is constantly read stories about a womans role as a housewife, homemaker and mother, she volition assume thats what is expected of her and will not know society will allow her to be anything she wants to be.Gender roles in childrens literature are linked to gender stereotypes. Gender stereot ypes have always been a part of society and are seen in almost every aspect of life. Stereotypes are defined as exaggerated descriptions applied to every person in the same category. (Macions p. 72). For every ethnic, racial and gender category society places stereotypes to describe certain groups of people. Gender stereotypes in childrens literature are portrayed in the traits, role behaviors, physical characteristics, and occupations of characters in childrens literature.The common messages in childrens literature about gender put emphasis on the traditional roles of men and woman. alas traditional roles are often unequal and place males as dominant over woman. Traditional gender encompasses the concept of maleness and femininity. In many countries around the world, the traditional roles of gender are greatly rankd. The traditional role of gender places woman as the homemakers and men as the provider. Girls are always shown as passive and girls are always shown as being active. (BookStove. com).With such emphasis on tradition, childrens literature does not allow children to see past the stereotypical expectations of society. It is no wonder why gender inequality in childrens literature is so prevalent when society places unequal views upon gender. Unfortunately much of the childrens literature today contains gender stereotypes as previously discussed. One would most likely assume that this is something of the past but it is as present today as it was in past decades. A reason for this could be that Gender-role development is one of the most important areas of human development (Noppe).Since gender roles are an important aspect of development for children, it is a significant topic in literature. However in the majority of childrens books the main characters are predominantly male, thus limiting opportunities for girls to identify with and validate their own gender. The male gender has been the dominant of the two sexes since the beginning of time, which explains why male characters are dominant in childrens books. The majority of childrens books have a male as the main character, leaving females with the minority of literary experiences aimed for them. In an analysis of childrens book titles by S.Ernst it was found that male names represented nearly twice as often as female names (Tsao). Ernst also found that books that had gender in variant and girls names were actually about boys. Gender roles and stereotypes force young children to conform to traditional stereotypes regarding gender. Because of this, boys feel pressured to live up to the standards of masculinity while girls feel pressured to be feminine. Gender based beliefs are incorporated into a majority of literature written for children. Even though the stereotypical divide between males and females is not a large as it was 40 years ago, it is still present today. When they are repeatedly given stereotypical messages, their choices of what they want to become or accomplish is exceptional by these gender stereotypes (Bookstove. com). Today both males and females are doctors, soldiers, teachers, athletes, government leaders, stay at home parents and much more, however this is not fully represented in childrens literature. Females in childrens literature are all too often portrayed in a narrow and biased way (Bookstove. com). all over the past few decades societal changes in gender roles have lead the stereotypical beliefs of gender to represent something different than what it used to.With so many changes in the views of society you would think that childrens literature would reflect these changes but all too often they do not. And most often the books that do challenge the beliefs of society draw great controversy causing them to be put on the back burner in favor of more traditional childrens books. The stereotypical roles of gender that are portrayed in childrens literature have been the cause of much controversy in recent years. However a solutio n to therapeutic the abundance of gender stereotypes in literature has not yet been reached.It is believed that the ideas of masculinity and femininity are too deeply embedded in society reservation it especially difficult to change. Every aspect of society is shadowed with stereotypical beliefs that are perceived through media, advertising, literature and socialization. These models are a constant promise that exploits gender stereotypes. According to Bookstove. com, guidelines were implemented in an attempt to eliminate sexist roles in childrens literature. These guidelines were expected to encourage a healthier development of gender for young children but unfortunately did not persist to combat the situation.Thus making it evident, that stereotypes are too deeply rooted in society. It will be arouse to see how the issue pans out over the coming decades. Gender identity is a crucial part of a childs development and will most likely remain a common theme amongst childrens liter ature. The views of gender depicted in literature may prevent children from participating in activities that would best suit their capabilities and personalities. It is important to understand and learn the expectations of society but childrens literature does not fully allow children to develop concepts of individuality.Today society places value on individuality and does not limit life chances to certain genders, but this is all too often not shown in childrens literature. In score to help children in the process of gender identity one must realize that children need chances to interpret the world around them without the insight and beliefs of society. Hopefully in time childrens literature will steer away from the stereotypical beliefs of gender and focus on non-traditional gender roles, allowing children to see themselves in many different aspects.Works Cited Macions, John J. Social Problems. New York Pearson, 2008. Noppe, Illene C. social. jrank. org. 1 December 2010 . Tsao, Y a-Lun. Gender Issues in Young Childrens Literature. Reading Improvement (2008). Unknown. 12 3 2007. Bookstove. com. 5 December 2010 . Gender Development Gender Schema Theory. Encyclopedia of Women and Gender Sex Similarities and Differences and the Impact of Society on Gender. Oxford Elsevier Science Technology, 2001. Credo Reference. Web. 06 December 2010. Fox, M. (1993). Men who weep, boys who dance The gender agenda between the lines in childrens literature. Language Arts, 70 (2), 84-88. EJ457107.